QFII펀드와 한중조세조약의 적용에 관한 연구

This article focuses on two problems in the application of China－Korea Tax Treaty (the Treaty) to QFII funds. The first one is whether QFII funds can be regarded as residents in the Treaty. The second one is how the Treaty assigns levy powers between China and Korea over the dividend, interest, and capital gain obtained by QFII funds. For the first problem, according to the current China－Korea Tax Treaty, only the individual investors of QFII funds can be regarded as residents. However, since it may not be feasible for the investors to separately claim tax treaty benefits, it would be more reasonable to regard QFII funds as residents. The second problem can be further divided into three parts. Firstly, for obtained dividend and interest, QFII funds can be regarded as substantial owners. Although QFII funds are merely collections of property which do not engage in substantial economic activities, they are investment vehicles approved by Chinese authorities and hence do not serve tax avoidance purposes. Secondly, for obtained capital gain, how to determine whether the property of a company consists principally of immovable property situated in China. When a QFII fund trades shares of such a company, only China has the levy power. Lastly, the Treaty stipulates permanent establishment principle for dividend, interest and capital gain respectively. But currently it is impossible for the obtained dividend, interest or capital gain of a QFII fund to meet the require- ments of this principle.