법인세법상 이익처분에 의한 상여금의 손금불산입 재고

Article 43 clause 1 of Enforcement Decree of the Corporate Tax Act does not allow expense deduction for bonuses paid by surplus distribution. However foregoing rule has major problems as follows：First, the foregoing rule premises that the bonuses can be paid to directors and employees through surplus distribution, which simply is not allowed in Korean corporation law. Therefore foregoing rule is meaningless in the first place. In practice the bonuses are paid as business expense of corporation, the control of the excessive payment of bonuses, which is the main object of the foregoing rule, can be regulated by general rule which does not allow expense duction for excessive salary. Second, ‘the substantive surplus distribution’which court precedents presented as grounds for not allowing of expense deduction is useless concept which disturbs the correct understanding of the regulatory system. Hence it shall be discarded. In the final analysis, the foregoing rule reflects the unconditional reception of the foreign legislation and the ignorance or disregard of relevant domestic law by the legislative authority. In the future, in legislating and interpreting the tax law, we should pay sufficient attention to the foregoing problems.