| Abstract [eng] |
Responsibility for Violations of the Law on the Tax on Environmental Pollution In this Master’s thesis, liability for violations of the Law on Pollution Tax, basis and topic of such liability were examined following the Law on Pollution Tax of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts, as well as the information received from the Environmental Protection Department under the Ministry of Environment concerning the environmental pollution violations and the application of a higher tax rate on economic entities, and in addition, on the basis of the works of scientists of the Republic of Lithuania. In the first chapter, the regulation of the Law on Pollution Tax of the Republic of Lithuania, amendments from the first version of this law are examined. The work highlights the amendments, compares the differences between the previous and the current versions of this legal act being valid at different periods of time. An essential aspect of the discussion on the regulation of this law is that until some period of time the Law on Pollution Tax in Lithuania imposed fines for violations of economic entities, but after the new version of the tax was imposed, fines were replaced by a higher tax rate. Also, the Law on the Pollution Tax of the Republic of Lithuania is compared with the general source of tax law - Law on Tax Administration of the Republic of Lithuania. When comparing two legal acts, a decision is being made on whether two legal acts regulating the tax on the environmental pollution are necessary, maybe a single tax on the environmental pollution would be sufficient. In the second chapter, the control of the calculation, payment and declaration of the pollution tax is discussed. The payer control of this tax is carried out by the Ministry of Environment and its authorized institutions, which conduct scheduled and non-scheduled inspections of economic entities, during which the reports of the economic entity, the correct tax payment and declaration are examined and evaluated, and, if in the course of inspection it determines that the economic entity is performing the tax calculation, payment and declaration obligations inappropriately, instructs the offender to pay a higher tax rate. In the third chapter, the duty of the taxpayer to pay the taxes and cases, when the taxpayer does not do this or does it in part are talked about. In such cases, he or she is subject to sanctions, one of which is the application of a higher tax rate. A higher tax rate is a tax measure that can be applied only in certain cases, and it is not a regular tax rate. The higher tax rate is a sanction that is manifested by an exclusive application, i.e. a higher rate is applied only when an inspection carried out by an economic entity reveals irregularities that are consistent with the basis for applying a higher tax rate. The basis for a higher tax rate can be distinguished into: incorrect calculation of the environmental pollution tax, excessive norms of pollution and hidden amounts of pollution, as well as an inappropriate tax declaration. The foundations are inseparable from each other and together form the basis of liability for the pollution tax. It is important to mention that the higher tax rate in the context of the Law on Pollution Tax of the Republic of Lithuania is an instrument of legal mechanism or otherwise, an economic sanction that encourages the economic entity to reduce the quantity of pollution emitted to the environment. |
