E. S. Karpov - Ph.D.(Econom.), Associate Professor, Department of Civil Law, Russian Public Service Academy (Vladimir branch). E-mail: esk33@mail.ru

Definition of «tax benefits» is widely used in the theory of tax law and practice, but there is no simple approach to understanding them, and content classification. The author gives the information about the category of «tax benefits» in the broad and narrow senses. In a narrow sense, the tax benefits are only those benefits taxpayers who is directly defined as tax benefits in the text of the law. In a broad sense, the tax benefits are any benefits provide to certain categories of taxpayers. Interpretation of tax benefits more broadly corresponds to their actual manifestation in the practical implementation of the provisions of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. But it necessary to say that not all of the available benefits in the Tax Code in their characteristics can be attributed to tax benefits. There are a number of similar benefits, which are elements of the mechanism of calculating the tax, and not the benefits. Tax Credit is a kind of legal benefits, so it is necessary to identify the signs of legal benefits, and analyze each phenomenon, claiming a classification of tax benefits for compliance with the criteria. All the benefits of the taxpayers should be classified into two groups: tax breaks and other benefits related to the procedure for calculating the tax base or to other elements of the tax. The benefits that are inherently tax incentives should be reformulated so that the content of their definitely should it tax benefits. This will provide an opportunity to analyze the available tax benefits, estimate the loss of their budgets to provide, as well as provide an opportunity to manage them.