역외자산의 정보수집 및 정보교환제도에 관한 고찰

As the overseas assets & earnings are sharply increasing under the influence of liberalization and internationalization of the world market, the impor- tance of off-shore information gathering is gaining weight. The tax autho- rities' methods of obtaining tax information include the one of acquiring direct information from a taxpayer or the third party, financial insti- tutions, and the method of information exchange consequent on a tax treaty, such as request for information & information exchange between the tax authorities. This paper intended to suggest the direction of a tax policy by analyzing the recent international trend surrounding tax & financial information from two aspects as follows：First, the information exchange method pursuant to a tax treaty came to establish ‘the internationally agreed tax standard’ after the past 10 years' efforts. The former tax haven-offering countries also begin to unlatch their gate as they have been induced to conclude the “Tax Information Exchange Agreement.” This can be called a product obtained by switching the process of information exchange, which has been sporadically con- cluded through the bilateral tax treaty all this while, to an international mutual assistance. The global forum, in which about 100 countries are participating, established a system which makes it possible for member countries to make a mutual evaluation of each country's system and even whether they implement the information exchange. Second, each country is pouring their energy into not only international mutual assistance but also independent maneuver in an effort to acquire tax information. They implemented a program through which a taxpayer voluntarily opens the income generated from overseas bank accounts while the US is pressurizing overseas financial institutions by introducing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. In contrast, Switzerland is implementing the policy adopting the substitution method for the with- holding system instead of automated information exchange meaning the renunciation of financial secretiveness. In keeping with this trend, our country is pouring it strength into infor- mation gathering of overseas assets by implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance from this year, and concluding the tax information exchange agreement with 14 tax-haven-offering nations after 2009. How- ever, at this point in time, efficient gathering of tax information is important, but it's more important to re-arrange a system from the aspect of the guarantee of a taxpayer's rights, and to establish a policy by calculating practical benefits through international and independent maneuver from the aspect of the taxation policy as well.