Conducting any business is regulated by law. This ensures good economic relations, protects consumer rights and ensures that taxes are paid to the state budget. If a private entrepreneur carries out commercial activities without state registration and a license (if necessary), punitive measures provided for by the criminal and administrative code of the Russian Federation are applied to him.
Considering the possible risks, it is in the interests of every citizen to report facts of such offenses to supervisory authorities, for example, a complaint to the tax office about illegal business.
How to prove?
From a legal point of view, not all profit-making can be called entrepreneurial activity .
For example, if a person gave a one-time ride to a neighbor for money or did one-time repairs for someone, this cannot yet be called entrepreneurial activity.
But if a person starts driving someone every day, hangs a “Taxi” sign on his car and stands at the station, this can already be called entrepreneurial activity.
At a minimum, such activities should be regular. Read more about what illegal entrepreneurship is in this article.
Important! By law, any citizen of the Russian Federation can conduct business activities after registering with the tax authorities . If registration has not been completed, then business activity is considered illegal .
How to prove illegal business activity? To prove its presence, it is necessary to conduct a test purchase or raid . In addition, you can try to prove the presence of profit from business activities.
To submit an application, you must bring any evidence of its availability . Photos, checks (if any are issued to you), audio recordings. Witness testimony is also suitable. Based on the application, authorized persons will conduct a test purchase.
Now you know how to prove illegal business. Let's talk about who can complain and where.
What is considered illegal business
The answer lies in the definition itself: illegal means going against the norms of current legislation.
However, there is one nuance here - not all ways of making a profit are considered commercial activities. Entrepreneurship is considered:
- conducting business by legal entities and citizens, while possible risks are assigned to the person engaged in such activities;
- systematically extracting financial benefits: selling production products, providing commercial services, selling or leasing real estate;
- regular income generation.
From this we can conclude that entrepreneurial activity implies a stable income. If a citizen gives a ride to a neighbor by car or helps with renovations in an apartment, receiving a certain reward for this, he does not become an individual entrepreneur and is not required to declare profits as an entrepreneur.
It’s another matter if such a citizen regularly provides private transportation, equipping the car with a “Taxi” sign, or, together with a team, professionally carries out repairs. Here we are talking about the systematic extraction of material benefits, therefore, for such activities it is mandatory to register as an individual entrepreneur and obtain other permits (permits, etc.).
Important! To qualify an administrative offense, the absence of revenue does not relieve liability: this is a goal, and not a mandatory result of commercial activity. The criminal component manifests itself in cases of causing damage or obtaining benefits on a large scale: exceeding 1,500,000 rubles.
Where to complain?
So, you have noticed illegal business activity, where to complain? You need to complain to the Economic Crime Department, the tax office and the prosecutor's office.
In addition, you can contact the deputy on whose territory the illegal business is being conducted. In order to contact the authorities, you must be sure that the business is being conducted truly illegally.
To the tax office
Here it is necessary to prove the fact of a criminal violation. And such a violation occurs under Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, the tax code itself, namely Art. 116 indicates that people who run an unregistered business are subject to sanctions in the form of a fine in the amount of 20% of income, but not less than 40,000 rubles. Read about fines and other types of punishment here.
How to report illegal business activities to the tax office? A complaint may be filed with the tax office regarding illegal business. It is necessary to contact the branch in whose territory the illegal business is actually located. A complaint to this agency will only be auxiliary.
Important! The Tax Service will deal with violations only in this area. will not examine areas of administrative and criminal violations .
The application is submitted in person . The application must be assigned a number . The application is reviewed within 30 days .
To the prosecutor's office
In principle, you can report a crime to the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor's office examines crimes in general and economic crimes in particular.
Sample complaint to the prosecutor's office about illegal business.
Read more about the composition and types of crimes in the sphere of entrepreneurship in this material.
Other authorities
You can contact the Department of Economic Crimes . All applications for economic offenses are submitted here.
If necessary, the application is forwarded from here to other services.
In addition, you can contact your district deputy .
There are also public organizations that fight illegal businesses to the best of their ability.
We hope now you know how and where to complain about illegal business.
Where to report an offense
You can contact the following organizations regarding unfair commercial practices:
- police;
- prosecutor's office;
- OBEP;
- Federal Tax Service.
If an individual entrepreneur or organization operates without a license or state registration, the illegal activity caused damage on a large scale or is associated with the acquisition of benefits on a large scale, Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is applied to the attackers. The following punitive sanctions are considered here:
- Illegal entrepreneurship - a fine of up to 300,000 rubles, arrest for up to six months, compulsory work for up to 480 hours.
- An organized group or the acquisition of financial gain in an amount recognized as particularly large (exceeds 6,000,000 rubles) - a fine of up to half a million rubles, imprisonment for up to 5 years, followed by a fine of up to 80,000 rubles.
In the administrative legal field, persons convicted of engaging in illegal business are charged with Article 14.1 of the Administrative Code. The following exacting measures are imposed:
- commercial activity without registration - a fine from 500 to 2,000 rubles;
- the entrepreneur does not have a license, in cases where it is mandatory for this type of activity - a fine for individuals is 2,000-2,500 rubles, for officials 4,000-5,000, for legal entities 40,000-50,000 with the possible confiscation of manufactured goods and raw materials for their production or instruments of production;
- failure to comply with the conditions of commercial activity prescribed by the license - a warning, collection of a fine of 1,000-2,000 rubles from individuals, 3,000-4,000 from officials, 30,000-40,000 from legal entities.
- a similar act involving a gross violation - a fine for individuals is 4,000-8,000 rubles, for officials 5,000-10,000, for legal entities 100,000-200,000 with suspension of commercial activities for up to 90 days.
Download for viewing and printing:
Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of June 13, 1996 N 63-FZ (as amended on February 19, 2018)
Article 14.1 of the Administrative Code of December 30, 2001 N 195-FZ (as amended on March 7, 2018)
What documents should I provide?
Any documents you can obtain are provided. If you ordered a service that costs one amount, but the documents indicate a lower amount, provide these documents. Your neighbor decides to open a kebab shop on his property? Take a photo of it. Audio recordings may also be provided.
Photos taken with a film camera . There is also some nuance with audio recordings. You can record on a voice recorder only with a warning from the person whose speech you are recording.
Important! A recording made without warning violates the law and will not be considered in court . Any evidence must be attached to the application.
Who can file a complaint
Any citizen who has reached the age of majority and has been recognized as legally competent can file a complaint regarding illegal business activities. It does not matter whether the citizen is a victim of such an offense or simply has such information.
What documents may be required
In addition to the statement, the fact of the offense must be documented.
Checks and receipts, contracts for the provision of any services are suitable as evidence. In addition, newspaper advertisements or screenshots from electronic bulletin boards where an unlicensed entrepreneur is looking for a client base are suitable. Photographs confirming the fact of illegal business activity are also suitable. Voice recordings are also acceptable, but audio evidence will not be taken into account by the court if the recording is made without warning.
When will you receive a response about the measures taken?
30 days are allotted for consideration of such requests. After this period, the applicant is sent a response about the work done and measures taken. In exceptional cases, the review period may be extended by 30 days, of which written notification will also be sent.
Algorithm for drawing up an application
There is no strict algorithm for drawing up an application. Of course, the employees help compile it. But we will give examples of how to compose it.
Statement on illegal business activities: sample.
As for OBEP, the statement will be somewhat different. start drawing up such a document with the “header” . It should contain information such as: the official to whom the application is addressed, information about who drew up the document, namely, full name, passport details and residential address, telephone number for contact.
The "header" should be located in the upper right corner . In addition, it must indicate that the applicant is aware that giving false testimony is subject to criminal liability. These words must be marked the current date and signature of the applicant.
Next, in the middle of the sheet you need to write the word “Statement” and in free form state your assumptions about the illegal business.
To the tax office
Here in the application it is very important to indicate such information as the applicant’s full name and place of residence. In addition, when drawing up this document, you need to clearly and clearly state the essence of the problem.
What answer and when should I expect?
Typically, the application is reviewed within 30 days from the date a number is assigned to the submitted application. The application is being verified . Most often, the applicant is given a response by the end of this period. In the response, the applicant will be notified of the results of the inspection.
Important! The application must be assigned a number. Sometimes this requires several working days.
Of course, if you know about the existence of an illegal business, it would be best to report it to law enforcement officers. One way or another, who decide to purchase goods and services from such organizations may suffer from such a business
After all, no one monitors the quality of goods and services. This fact alone is enough to submit an application to the prosecutor's office, the Economic Crime Department and the tax service.
In addition, such business is often criminal. Drug trafficking, prostitution and smuggling often take place illegally. This already poses a threat to society.
