조세법률주의와 신의성실 원칙의 적용에 관한 연구―대법원 판례를 중심으로―

Taxes are levied and collected by compulsion without any consideration from people, thus imposing massive constraints on their property rights. In a demo- cratic nation, the Constitution prescribes the principle of no taxation without law and assures that tax levy and collection should be carried out via law by the National Assembly representing the people. Today the principle of good faith has settled down as a general legal principle encompassing public and private law in the administration of justice. In South Korea, Article 15 of the Framework Act on National Taxes explicitly recognizes the principle of good faith in the realm of taxes. Neither the principle of no taxation without law nor the principle of good faith is neglected in the realm of taxes, which can be understood in that the principle of good faith should compensate for the blind spots in the principle of no taxation without law and not be used as a tool to expand the right to tax one-sidedly with no limitations. Starting with the issue of applying the principle of good faith in the area of tax laws, this study examined the precedents of the principle being applied to reduce the tax burdens on taxpayers, reviewed its validity, and reestablished the conditions of its application. The study thus aimed to find a way for the expansion of the right to tax through the principle of violating the Constitutional spirit of the principle of no taxation without law. According to the existing precedents and theories, taxpayers generally formed trust in the holders of right to tax through certain acts, and taxation was carried out based on them. The study concentrated discussions on whether taxation would be legal or not according to the principle of good faith when taxpayers engaged in an act of betrayal against their past acts. The Supreme Court's grand bench decision of 2009 Du 13474 sentenced on January 20, 2011, however, stirred somewhat different discussions from that of older ones. The precedent above gave a decision with the intent that a demand for input tax deduction and refund could be excluded by applying the principle of good faith according to the value added tax act because it could not be tolerated by the “universal view of justice and ethics”. The study reviewed the application conditions of the principle of good faith carried out by the majority voice of grand bench decisions in-depth and drew a clear boundary for a case in which taxpayers' certain demands or exercise of right in the realm of taxation acts would be limited by the principle of good faith. The principle of good faith is a tool to resolve certain cases with a general principle and should be applied as complementary as possible for its rather abstract nature. Based on the conclusion, the study also looked into whether there would be other solutions in the complementary aspect of the principle of good faith by discussing “tax invoices different from facts”, an important element in the deduction and refund issue of input tax.