Court decision on the offence of tax evasion

This particular case involved a situation where two individuals were convicted of tax evasion because, in the court's view, they were responsible for the failure of Cypriot companies to file corporate income tax returns in the Czech Republic - namely, the companies sold shares in a Czech company, while the value of the assets of the traded company consisted of more than 90% of land located in the Czech Republic. The relevant double tax treaty allows the income from the sale of a business share to be taxed in the source state if the value of the share sold is more than 50% real estate.

What is interesting about the court decision, however, is the fact that the convicted persons were individuals who were not in the position of statutory representatives of the company at all. The court stated that the perpetrator of a tax criminal offence may be not only the entity concerned directly, or its statutory representative, but also anyone who by his or her deliberate actions causes tax evasion, or who together with other persons knowingly participates in tax evasion.

Wiretaps, interrogation of Cypriot persons, monitoring of shipments, etc. were used to prove the guilt of both perpetrators. The case described is interesting from my point of view and I personally predict that similar cases, i.e. cases where someone who has no formal connection with the company concerned is convicted, will increase.