MOSCOW, April 21 (RAPSI) – According to draft amendments to the Russian Tax Code, the statute of limitations for tax crimes could be increased from three to ten years, Vedomosti newspaper writes on Monday.

The amendments were drafted by the Federation Council (upper house), upgraded by the Federal Tax Service and are now being discussed at the departmental level. In April this year, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered an analysis of increasing the tax service’s authority.

According to the proposed amendments, many tax optimization schemes that are widely used in Russia could be classified as abuse, including understating a tax base due to benefits, offsets, reduced tax rates, and special management incentives, as well as any “action/inaction aimed at tax avoidance.” There should be no tax benefits for pro forma or simulated transactions, the draft amendments say.

The Federal Tax Service has formulated and is actively using the notion of “unjustified tax benefits,” but only in the resolutions of the Supreme Commercial Court’s plenary sessions and presidium meetings. If this term is added to the Tax Code, it will greatly simplify initiating new criminal cases, in particular against shell companies, the newspaper writes.

In December 2013, the State Duma (lower house) adopted a presidential bill in the first reading that gives investigators the power to open tax cases without considering the opinion of the tax authorities. Discussions are currently underway to introduce amendments to regulate cooperation between the Investigative Committee and the Federal Tax Service.