Tax crime and sanctions of year 2012 show a trend that tax crime goes international and that both international and national tax crimes become more sophisticated. The main reason for the increased sophistication is that the tax administration and finance police cooperate more cross border, that information is increasingly exchanged between countries and that the tax administration and finance police use more advanced methods to combat tax crime also on national level.

Combating tax crime is important in order to make everybody contribute to the wealth of the countries. In the light of the financial crises it is not only necessary from a fair share perspective but also to keep the national and international economies in balance. When designing the penal and procedural codes as well as the tax acts in order to combat tax crime it is important however also to take other interests in consideration. For example a very efficient tax administration may put unrealistic burdens of administration on the tax payers. Very wide reaching powers of investigation may endanger the legal certainty of the tax payers. A flexible system of sanctions regarding tax crime may result in poor foreseeability.

When combating tax crime not only harsh monetary sanctions should be used. For indebted persons or wealthy persons monetary sanctions may have little effect. If the risk of being caught with tax crime is little, harsh sanctions will have little or no deterrent effect. Information campaigns in order to increase the loyalty to the tax system may also have effect. A transparent administration, such as the Swedish one, where everybody´s taxable income is public information, may also help in the combating of tax crime. If the neighbor, who everybody knows does not pay any tax at all, has two luxury cars on his yard, it is not unlikely that somebody reports this fact to the tax administration that will start an investigation on black income.