이자율스왑을 활용한 조세전략에 대한 연구

A swap is a contract under which two parties agree to exchange cashflows in the future. The frequency of exchanges and maturity of a contract as well as the method for calculation of cashflows can be determined variably according to the agreement between interested parties. Tax planning can be divided into three type of planning activities which are converting income from one type to another, shifting income from one pocket to another, and, shifting income from one period to another, respectively. The success of the first type of planning would depend on the economic and legal substance of the transactions as demonstrated in the recent Supreme Court's ruling in the Yen-swap deposit cases; and, the second type of planning would be substantiated to the extent that the transactions are carried out based on reasonable transfer pricing analysis etc. This study focused on the third type of tax planning given that it would be seemingly less controversial than the other strategies between a taxpayer and tax authorities to the extent that those planning activities involve derivative transactions. It has shown that a tax planning using interest rate swaps in order to utilize NOLs is viable under Korean Corporate Income Tax Laws, which mainly results from the fact that income or expenses from swap transactions are taxed on a cash basis in Korea. In conclusion, taxpayers may determine revenue recognition periods by changing the timing of payments or receipts of swap cashflows under the current cash basis taxation on swaps in Korea. In addtion, although the tax effect will partially be offset due to swap fees, a taxpayer may refresh NOLs which are scheduled to expire shortly.