It should be noted that in the Russian Federation, the prospects of tax relieves, both in terms of socioeconomic
essence and costs of their use, and from the point of view of efficiency improvement are under-researched.
The Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On the principles of the Russian tax system" did not contain any
regulatory definition of a tax relief. The Tax Code of the Russian Federation just formally eliminated the gap.
Despite the nearly 15-year period of its study, this area of scientific - practical research remains the least
researched and discussed. This fact is recognized by famous modern scientists in taxation. Thus, according to V.
G. Panskov "Neither the tax laws, nor scientific papers provide clear definition of what a "tax relief" is; there is
no scientifically-grounded criteria and guidelines for calculating the efficiency of their application. There is no
clarity as to how and who is to monitor the efficiency of the granted relieves and other preferences" (Panskov,
2012).
The definition of a tax relief formulated in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (Article 56), determines its
largely generalized understanding of it, as advantage provided to certain categories of taxpayers compared to others. At that, the results of such advantage may be manifested as a decrease in the tax burden (tax amount) and
facilitation of compliance with tax obligations (for example, lesser frequency of tax returns).
Most definitions given in scientific and educational papers are different from the definition of the tax relief as set
out in the Tax Code only by their form but not by their content. For example, N. A. Solovyev treats the essence
of the definitions of "tax benefit" as "advantages granted by the legislation on taxes and levies granted to certain
categories of taxpayers compared to other taxpayers, providing for the possibility not to pay a tax or pay it at a
lesser rate" (Solovyev, 2012).