택배운송거래 당사자들의 민사법적 관계 및 부가가치세 과세범위

Although domestic door-to-door transportation service transaction became already one of our daily works, the structure of the transaction, legal relationship of the parties involved in the transaction and the status of the parties under the Value Added Tax Law(“VATL”) are not clear. It is the normal type of the domestic door-to-door transportation service transaction that (i) the operator of parcel collection office, (ii) major parcel transportation company, (iii) the shuttle transportation company and (iv) the operator of parcel distribution office complete the service of total transportation section in the way that each party performs the transportation service for the part of total transportation section assigned to him by the ‘major parcel transportation company’. The aim of this article is, under the above structure of domestic door-to-door transportation service, to look into the legal relationship of the parties and to examine the attribution of liability to compensate the damages caused to the parcel in the course of transportation due to the intention or negligence of one of the parties, and finally, to analyze the VATL status of each party. From the perspective of civil law, the person who enters into a transportation contract with the consignor of a parcel is the operator of parcel collection office. The major parcel transportation company is in the status of ‘joint carrier’ under the Korean Commercial Code(“KCC”), together with the operator of parcel collection office, vis-a-vis the assignor of the parcel, also is in the status of ‘name lender’ vis-a-vis the operator of parcel collection office under the KCC. The shuttle transportation company and the operator of parcel distribution office are not in any legal relationship with the consignor or the operator of parcel collection office, but has the status of a subcontractor or ‘assistant performer’ of the major parcel transportation company. Under the above legal relationship of the parties, any damages arising from the loss, breakage or late arrival of the parcel caused by the intent or negligence of the operator of parcel collection office or major parcel transportation company are to be compensated by both parties jointly and severally. Such damages caused by the intent or negligence of the shuttle transportation company or the operator of parcel distribution office are to be compensated by the major parcel transportation company as the principal of a assistant performer. The VATL consequences of the above structure of parcel service transportation should be interpreted as follows: (i) the operator of parcel collection office supplies the consignor of the parcel with the transportation service for the total transportation section, at the price of total amount of service fees received from the consignor or consignee of the parcel; (ii) the major parcel transportation company supplies the operator of parcel collection office with the transportation service for the part of total transportation section that remains after the performance of transportation service by the operator of parcel collection office, at the price of the total amount of service fees received from the consignor or consignee minus the amount allocated to the operator of parcel collection office; (iii) the shuttle transportation company or the operator of parcel distribution office supplies the major parcel transportation company with the transportation service for the part of total transportation section that is assigned to him by the major parcel transportation company, at the price of the amount received from the major parcel transportation company for his performance of services.