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An Overview of Tax Crimes and Penalties
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Att. Alper Uzun
Introduction
Tax crimes may be defined, in short, as economic crimes perpe-
trated against the “public treasury.” Through the commission of a crim-
inal act, the interest of the public treasury, in a wider sense, the inter-
est of the general public is violated. The aim of the penalty is, there-
fore, the timely payment of taxes due. The principles pertaining to tax
crimes and penalties are regulated under the Tax Procedure Code
(“TPC”). Some of the crimes and penalties stipulated under the TPC
solely concern the tax law, and tax offices can directly apply these
penalties without further need of a judicial decision. The acts within
this scope are evaluated as “financial crimes and penalties.” On the
other hand, other crimes and penalties regulated under the TPC are
crimes according to criminal law, and are punishable by restricting
freedom. These are determined as “criminal crimes and penalties”
1
.
Types of Tax Crimes and Penalties
Financial Crimes and Penalties
As exemplified with loss of tax revenue and non-compliance, these
types of tax crimes, which are punishable by monetary fines and
detected and applied by tax offices, are crimes within the sense of “tax
law.” These crimes may be committed without deliberate intent.
Loss of tax revenue is defined in Art. 341 of the TPC as “
Loss of
tax revenue means late or incomplete accrual of tax due to the non-
performance or ill-performance of a taxpayer of a liable person of
MISCELLANEOUS
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Article of October 2015
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Prof. Dr. Mualla Öncel - Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kumrulu - Prof. Dr. Nami Çağan
, Vergi Hukuku,
Ankara 2015, p. 209 and following.