Forming and using forged and misleading document as of its content in Tax Procedure Law

Forming and using forged document and forming and using misleading document as of its content are regulated as two separate crimes independent from each other in the Article 359 of the Tax Procedure Law No. 213 (TPL) titled "Fraud Crimes and Penalties". On the other side of the coin, the subjects and acts of the crimes are common. Therefore, it is obvious that the arrangement in question is in conflict with the general principles of criminal law. It leads persons to be subject to disproportionate sanctions and therefore unfair results. In addition, there are uncertainties in many points from the scope of the document concept, which is the subject of these crimes, to the distinction between forged document and misleading document as of its content, from the meaning of the acts of formation and use to the determination of the perpetrator. The aim of this study is to analyze on the crimes of forming and using forged document and misleading document as of its content and seek solutions for the issues that have become problematic in practice within the framework of the opinions in the doctrine, developments in comparative law and judicial decisions. In the first part of the study, the concept of tax offense and the concept of fraud given by the legislator for the crimes in the Article 359 of TPL, which includes the crimes of forming and using dorged documents and misleading documents as of its content is examined. Then, the concept of document is argued. Subsequently, in this part, the concepts of forged document and misleading document as of its content are addressed. In the second part, tax crimes committed through forgery in comparative law are analyzed. In the third part, the crimes of forming and using forged document and misleading document as of its content are examined in terms of the elements of the crime, the special appearance forms of the crime and culpability in accordance with the classical crime examination method. In the last part, the reasons ending the criminal relationship in the crimes and the sanctions are scrutinized.