과세정보에 대한 비밀유지의무

It is commonly accepted that the private information is so important that it shall be protected. It is no wonder that a taxpayer’s tax information ought to remain confidential since it is also a kind of private information. Taxation information means any information involving the assessment, the determination, and the imposition of a tax liability to a taxpayer. For example, a taxpayer’s identity, the nature of income, the source of income, the amount of tax liability, any deduction, exemption, or credit which influences to the final determination of the tax liability, and others. Framework Act on National Taxes provides the confidentiality of tax information to the tax officials in the Article 81-13 as follows: “A tax official shall not offer or disclose to others data which a taxpayer has submitted in order to fulfill his liability to taxation as prescribed by tax-related Acts or data which the tax official has obtained for the purpose of taxation or collection of national tax, etc. in discharging his duties, shall not make use of it except for the prescribed purposes.” The Article 81-13 however also provides the six cases in which a tax official is allowed to offer the taxation information to others for the purpose of primarily public uses as the exceptions to confidentiality. In case where tax professionals or tax officials disclose tax information against the Act, the penalty will be imposed to them. This article aims to appraise the current regime with regard to the treatment of the tax information and to present the suggestion for improvements.