DISTORTION OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE FACTSOF ECONOMIC LIFE AND THE PURPOSE OF THE TRANSACTION (OPERATION) AS A CRITERION FOR ASSESSINGTHE LEGALITY OF THE TAXPAYER’S RIGHTS IN CALCULATING THE TAX BASEAND (OR) THE AMOUNT OF TAX
Background: the main purpose of the transaction and misrepresentation of the facts of economic activity are the circumstances that determine the trend of tax practice. Legislative consolidation of these concepts causes difficulties in the interpretation of the law. Objective: to eliminate the ambiguity of tax legislation. In order to achieve the goal, it is necessary to analyze the legislative consolidation of these concepts, law enforcement practice and correlate the results of the analysis with the principles of taxation. Methodology: analysis and deductive method of cognition. Results: the article provides a definition of distortion of the facts of economic activity, the correlation of this concept with the test of the main purpose, the classification of taxpayer actions is proposed. Conclusions: the author distinguishes between simple and qualified misrepresentation of the facts of economic activity. The test of the main purpose is applied in the case of qualified misrepresentation of facts of economic activity. Analysis of law enforcement practice leads to the conclusion about the broad interpretation by tax authorities and courts of the norms in question, which leads to a violation of the principle of legal certainty.