Legal Doctrine and Practice in Search of Tax Law Certainty: Progress or Regression?

• Published in: Право и политика no. 7; pp. 1 - 25
• Main Author: Khokhlova, Alina Dmitrievna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.07.2025
• ISSN: 2454-0706; 2454-0706
• DOI: 10.7256/2454-0706.2025.7.74901

The relevance of the study stems from systemic issues of legal certainty in tax regulation, which undermine taxpayers' trust in the law and exacerbate imbalances in public-law relations. Despite the legislative enshrinement of the principle of tax law certainty in Article 3 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (RF Tax Code) and its recognition in the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, its implementation faces challenges. These include legislative defects (collisions, gaps, legal-technical errors) and expansive interpretation of norms by authorized enforcement agencies, potentially leading to administrative arbitrariness. The study aims to identify the causes and manifestations of legal uncertainty through the analysis of legislative, enforcement, and interpretative mechanisms, doctrinal approaches, judicial practice, and the Constitutional Court’s rulings. The methodological framework combines a systemic approach, formal-dogmatic analysis of Tax Code norms and judicial practice, and case studies to illustrate the consequences of legal uncertainty. This comprehensive approach enabled an assessment of the interconnection between legislative defects and violations of constitutional principles, such as equality and fairness in taxation. The scientific novelty lies in a systemic analysis of the structural elements of legal certainty (clarity, stability, universality, consistency, enforceability, promulgation, prohibition of retroactivity, and state actors’ compliance with enacted laws) through the lens of the Constitutional Court’s practice. The study critiques the Court’s fragmented approaches to resolving tax law disputes and highlights the contradiction between the imperative nature of tax law and the need to protect private interests. The findings reveal that legal uncertainty arises not only from legislative flaws but also from dishonest interpretation by tax authorities, imperfections in implementing Constitutional Court decisions, and inconsistencies in the Court’s positions on similar issues. The conclusions aim to ensure a balance between public and private interests, minimize administrative arbitrariness, and maintain trust in the tax system.