A Dual Reactive Response Against Tax Crime in Iranian and French Law

Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA) made the prosecution of tax crimes subject to the implementation of the internal bylaws (by-law or code of conduct) of the implementation of article 274 of the Direct Tax Code in 2018. Accordingly, the prosecuting of these crimes requires a complaint by the Tax Administration after obtaining a favorable opinion of the Tax Crimes Task Force (TFTC). In fact, the authority of the prosecutor’s office in evaluating the prosecution is limited and, in some way, limited to the previous assessment and opinion of the tax office. The by-law simulates the “Commission on Tax Crimes” in French law which was approved and enacted by the French parliament nearly half a century ago. One of the justifications for establishing this mechanism is the principle of proportionality in prosecution according to which only severe tax fraud cases are pursued in the criminal authorities (institutes) after the administrative process in the tax administration and lack of results. This policy of selecting severe cases is in line with the thought of criminal response deterrence and public prevention. In fact, the tax administration prefers to respond to failure to fulfill tax obligations with administrative-financial reactive responses and allocate criminal responses to severe tax frauds and fraudulent design. This mechanism definitely faced serious reforms in 2018. Unlike French law, which both the anticipation of the Tax Crimes Commission and its reforms, aimed at clarification, were made by the Parliament, in Iran, the by-law is approved by the Tax Administration and not the legislature.