행정소송법 제22조가 정하는‘처분변경으로 인한 소의 변경’과 과세처분 취소소송

This Article discusses the issue of application of Article 22 of the Korean Administrative Litigation Act to tax cases. The basic premise here is that an imposition of tax by government is categorized as an “administrative act” like many other types of government action. In order to deny legal validity of an administrative act, one must file a lawsuit to have rescinded the administrative act within a 90-day period. This type of lawsuit is similar to what is known as “Anfechtungklage” in German law. Because this type of lawsuits is administrative act-specific, problems arise if government alters the administrative act in question while the lawsuit against the act is pending. Article 22 provides the taxpayer-plaintiff with a possibility to keep using the pending procedure to contest the newly altered administrative act. In spite of its theoretical importance, Article 22 has rarely been subject to serious discussion among academics or practitioners. Somehow, tax judges and practitioners do not seem to have much interest in Article 22, relying instead on the more general and lenient provisions found in the Code of Civil Procedure. This Article is an attempt to re-evaluate the importance of Article 22 and present a correct interpretation on it, despite that the discussion here is limited within the boundary of tax litigation.