Abstract: Countering the practice of conducting business through several companies for obtaining tax benefits, or in other words, the practice of businesses is fragmentation is a relevant problem not only in the Russian Federation, but also foreign countries. Namely in Canada, small business are qualified for reduction in corporate tax – small business deduction (SBD). At the same time, it substantiated the need for the development of special financial-legal means for preventing taxpayers from misusing it. This article examines the Canadian experience of countering business fragmentation, and discusses various legal means implemented by the Canadian legislator. Special attention is given to the analysis of law enforcement practice of these legal means, including introduction of the “deemed association rule” (Paragraph 2.1, Section 256 of the Law “On Income Tax”). Foreign experience pertinent to legal regulation of countering the practice of business fragmentation has not previously become the subject of detailed analysis, which defines the scientific novelty of this article. The conclusion is made that Canada has a separate legal regulation in form of  the general and special rules aimed at prevention of unscrupulous practices of business fragmentation. The Canadian tax authorities may apply certain special norms prior to resorting to broader discretion. Application of the “deemed association rule”  based on determination of the purpose of separate existence of corporations, draws particular attention. The Canadian law enforcement practice developed the approach, according to which the implementation of this rule should be founded on the objective component and documentary evidence.

Abstract: The subject of the research is the peculiarities of defining controlled transactions for the purposes of tax control over transfer pricing. The author of the article examines consequences of amendments made to the tax law, in particular, reduction of the list of controlled transactions, and analyses approaches to defining a controlled transaction in foreign tax law. The author also carries out an analysis of explanations of the Ministry of Finances of the Russian Federation and Tax Federal Service of Russia, Russian and foreign judicial practice on the matter, Russian and foreign researches, which makes the research important for practising lawyers. The methodological basis of the research is the general research methods such as analysis, synthesis, generalisation, the author has also used special research methosd such as formal law, comparative law and historical analysis. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author analyzes different criteria of the scope of application of tax control over transfer pricing and gives recommendations both for legislators and taxpayers who deal with the reduced list of controlled transactions. The main conclusions of the research are as follows: 1) when defining a range of controlled transactions, legislator applies a risk-oriented approach which allows to reduce the administrative burden on taxpayers; 2) based on the judicial practice and explanations of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, the aforesaid changes may have negative consequences, thus the author recommends what amendments should be made to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation; 3) taxpayers whose transactions will not be recognized as controlled should prepare additional rationale for an actual price of a transaction in order to reduce the risk; 4) in order to improve tax control taking into account experience of the foreign states, the author suggests to use the company's turnover volume as a criterion for recognising transactions as controlled, as well as to make up a certain criterion for preparation of documentation.