과세처분을 취소하는 확정판결이 있은 후 과세관청의 ‘재처분’이 가능한 범위

In Korea, while a certain tax assessment is disputed and ultimately revoked by the court, tax authorities may issue a new tax assessment of the same kind to the same taxpayer based upon a theory or legal ground different from that of the initial tax assessment. The Korean Supreme Court has constantly upheld this practice, and ruled that the court need not examine any potential argument that support the tax assessment other than the ones the tax authorities have actually raised at the time of the tax assessment or during the litigation procedure. The issue is basically that of a choice between a litigation system where the court tries to resolve all the relevant issues in a single procedure and prohibits the parties from filing any further lawsuits, and one where the court speedily resolves only the issues actually raised by the parties and examines other relevant issues only when the parties file other lawsuits later. In reality, it is hard to conclude which system would guarantee fair taxation that is also efficient and implementable. This Article does not attempt to provide the ultimate answer to the question of whether the above court precedent and practice are right, and to what extent this “re-assessment” by the tax authorities should be permitted, if at all. Instead, this article discusses the relevant technical aspects of Korean tax litigation procedures, comments on different views which other commentators have thus far presented regarding the “re-assessment” issue, and corrects a few errors and defects that are found in such views. Lastly, this article endeavors to identify key issues that must be successfully resolved first if we are to arrive at any useful answers to this question of “re-assessment”.