Tax law is the most important branch of jurisprudence in terms of studying the sphere of tax legal relations, training personnel for it, as well as implementing state priorities in the field of regulation of these communications. What are the features of the subject and method of this industry? What are the nuances in the interpretation of these terms?
What is tax law?
Before considering the tax law method , we will consider what this legal industry represents. The corresponding term can be understood in 3 different contexts:
- as an academic discipline;
- as a branch of science;
- as a section of national law.
All these interpretations of the concept of "tax law" are interconnected. So, the corresponding academic discipline and the branch of science study, first of all, the marked section of national law. In turn, the publication of regulatory legislation, as well as law enforcement practice, largely depends on the qualifications of lawyers, to a large extent acquired in educational institutions, as well as the level of scientific development of various problems that are related to tax law.
Subject of tax law
It can be noted that for all 3 interpretations of the corresponding term, a common subject is characteristic: the totality of legal relations that are formed with the participation of state bodies and taxpayers in the status of individuals or legal entities. The subject of these legal relations may be the procedure for establishing, calculating, transferring to the budget, as well as levying various taxes, as well as exercising control over their payment and implementing measures of responsibility for violations of the relevant branch of legislation.
The relevant relationship may thus:
- be investigated at the level of scientific discipline;
- reflected in the training materials;
- be in the jurisdiction of tax legislation.
These types of communications can be carried out using various methods of tax law. We study their specifics.
The essence of tax law methods
The tax law method is, in accordance with the traditional approach, a set of legal mechanisms that allow one or another entity to varying degrees to influence the subject of tax law. For example, representatives of science - to study legal relations, teachers - to interpret them within the framework of academic discipline, to the legislator - to reflect in normative acts.
Let us examine how the method in question can be understood in the context of its consideration as a section of national law.
Method in the context of national law
In the relevant context, the tax law method is usually characterized as the approach of the legislator to the regulation of various legal relations in the field of taxes and fees. He can be:
- public law;
- civilian.
In the first case, the legislator applies the mechanisms established by the current regulatory enactments to coerce individuals to fulfill the requirements for paying taxes. Thus, an imperative method of regulating legal relations is involved. In the second, the actions of the legislator are reduced mainly to recommendations and approvals. In fact, a dispositive method is being implemented in tax law, according to which certain subjects of legal relations have the opportunity to choose a method of behavior in certain communications.
Consider the key features that characterize the method in tax law.
Signs of the tax law method
First of all, it has a public law character. Tax liabilities of citizens and organizations are regulated at the level of federal, regional and municipal legislation, which, in terms of the regulation of basic communications, is normative. This is explained, first of all, by the fact that tax collection is a procedure that is key from the point of view of forming the state budget, material support of the main institutions of the state. This feature of understanding the essence of the relevant payments determines the emergence of a priority of public interests over private ones. Thus, tax liabilities are imposed equally on all citizens, and their benefits are determined in the normative order for persons with the same status.
Choosing a tax law method
A specific method of tax law is important from the point of view of the state choosing the most effective mechanisms for ensuring that citizens fulfill their obligations to transfer certain payments to the budget. In this case, the priority may be the application of precisely those approaches that can be described as imperative, implying the issuance by competent authorities of regulations for taxpayers that are binding.
The ratio of imperative and dispositive mechanisms
At the same time, increasing the effectiveness of legal relations management in the field of tax payments to the budget may require the involvement of civil mechanisms by the state. The study of the degree of their influence can be included in the problem of the tax law method, relevant both for the sphere of practical law-making and, in particular, for the field of scientific research.
The way in which dispositive and imperative approaches should be correlated is determined taking into account many factors, which are often found only upon the introduction and application of legal norms. They can be socio-economic, institutional in nature, determined by internal processes or, for example, foreign policy.
Imperative Method Priority
But, one way or another, a situation has developed in the Russian legal system in which imperative methods of tax law still receive greater priority. This or that subject of legal relations receives, in this way, public or personal - but in the manner prescribed by regulatory enactments, instructions regarding his actions in the context of fulfillment of obligations to pay taxes and fees to the budget.
The value of the dispositive method
If necessary, the legislator applies various methods of interpretation of tax law, enshrines them in recommendations and explanatory documents, if the rule of law in certain provisions of the law is dispositive. In some cases, this approach may be even more effective than imperative regulation. As a rule, it is practiced if a particular type of communication is difficult to regulate at the level of federal regulatory acts.
In this case, the competent authorities - most often the Federal Tax Service, apply certain means and methods of interpretation of tax law, then fix the results of the work done in letters and other legal acts that are published in the prescribed manner. In many cases, the content of just such documents is considered by taxpayers primarily, while the requirements of federal regulations are not de facto applied as regulatory, although they have great legal force.
Dispositive norms in federal law
There are federal regulations in Russian legislation that are dispositive in their legal nature. For example, these are the provisions of the Tax Code regarding the choice of a taxation system by entrepreneurs. Provided that the activities of the firms they set up in terms of turnover and number of employees meet certain criteria, they can, in particular, work according to a simplified system and thus pay a substantially lower amount of taxes than in the case of the general taxation method.
In turn, when determining the procedure for calculating the amounts of specific payments to the budget, the taxation methods are exactly the same imperative mechanisms: the relevant rules of law prescribe how the tax base, rate, tax period and other conditions for transferring payments to the state budget are established.
In general, the regulation of legal relations in the field of taxes and fees is regulated at the level of federal legislation of Russia. But there are options in which the tax law method and its characteristics will be determined on the basis of the norms of regional sources of law. Consider this nuance in more detail.
Methods of tax law in the application of regional legislation
Indeed, the bulk of the rules governing the fulfillment by citizens and organizations of obligations related to the payment of taxes and fees is established at the level of federal legal acts - above all, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. But in some cases, the provisions of the Tax Code should be supplemented by the norms adopted by the authorities of the Russian regions.
For example, this feature characterizes the regulation of the payment of property tax on individuals represented by real estate. The procedure for calculating the corresponding payment in terms of its main components is determined at the level of the Tax Code. But a number of key elements of property tax are determined taking into account regional law. So, up to a certain point, it is the authorities of the subject of the Russian Federation that determine whether the corresponding payment will be calculated on the basis of the inventory or cadastral value of the property. In turn, regardless of which particular option the regional authorities choose, they also set the rates for the tax in question - but within the limits that are established in the Tax Code.
The ratio of regional and federal legislation when choosing a tax law method
Thus, from the point of view of the operation of regional sources of norms, the tax law method will be as imperative as if federal law were applied: taxpayers registered in the corresponding region would be required to follow the provisions of the legislation approved in the subject of the Russian Federation. In turn, from the point of view of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the rules that determine, firstly, the scheme for calculating property tax, and secondly, the rate for it, can be applied only if specific provisions of the sources of law establishing these payment elements are not accepted by the regional legislator.
To determine whether a particular method of tax law is actually imperative at the federal level in some cases is possible only if the patterns of correlation of the relevant rules of law with those adopted at the regional level are identified. So, from the point of view of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, some norms are adopted only if the regulations governing the same sphere of relations are not adopted by the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In turn, regional legislation in this case can be considered as a source of equivalent federal peremptory norms, despite the fact that its legal force is lower than that of the Tax Code.
Normativeness of legal acts in tax law
It will be useful to study another aspect of the application of the method in tax law: the normative character of the provisions of acts issued by authorities. The tax law method is usually characterized as a way of regulating legal relations through just the same regulatory sources represented by federal or regional laws, in some cases - by-law sources.
In turn, in many cases, the corresponding method can be represented by non-normative sources. They are also published by authorities, however, their action is aimed at a certain circle of persons or even a specific citizen or organization. For example, such a source may be an order to pay tax that was not paid by one person or another on time, as a result of which an arrears formed. However, any order of the appropriate type - whether it is 1 in a row, 2 or 3 (tax law, subject, method, place, sources of it can, therefore, be determined at the level of non-normative acts), should be based on the provisions, in turn, of normative legal acts. That is, to be lawful and justified.
Thus, both mechanisms of managing legal relations in the field of taxes and fees - regulatory and non-regulatory, are also closely related.
Summary
So, we have studied what the specifics of the subject and method of tax law are. First of all, it matters in which context they are considered - scientific, educational or institutional-legal. As for the subject of tax law, it retains its integrity in all 3 contexts.
In turn, the method of the relevant branch of law will vary depending on whether it is used by a researcher, teacher or legislator. Its use will predetermine the order of actions of this or that subject of communications. For example, if it is a legislator, then in accordance with the chosen method of tax law - imperative or dispositive, the provisions of normative acts issued by authorities in order to regulate legal relations in the field of taxes and fees will be formed.