조세법상 신의성실의 원칙과 비과세관행의 상호 관계

The principle of good faith imposes a liability on one party of a contract not to infringe the other party’s interests if the latter acted following the former’s speech and conduct. In tax law, it is required that the good faith principle prevails over the legality of tax collection if there are reasonable causes to protect the taxpayer’s trust. In this way, the legal concept of good faith in tax law is largely a moral concept comprised of notions of fairness. The four requirements of the principle of good faith to the tax administration conduct are summarized here. First, the tax office must release official opinion to the related taxpayer. Second, the tax payer trusts the official opinion is lawful and reasonable in good faith. Third, the taxpayer acts according to the opinion. Fourth, the tax administration delivers the notice of determination on the acts against the previous opinion and this tax collection results in the innocent taxpayer’s unexpected loss. Meanwhile, the no-tax practices are generally reckoned the special effects of the principle of non-retroactive taxation. And they are considered special rules that stem from the principle of good faith. Even without the no-tax practices, retroactive taxation is not lawful according to the principle of good faith. In this respect, the principle of good faith and the no-tax practices are complementary to each other. Both the principle of good faith and the no-tax practices are aimed at protecting taxpayers’ trust through a certain period of time and preventing their potential future costs against unexpected,unlawful invasion of their property rights. Consequently, the application of those principles needs considerable investigation of related tax factors. Futhermore, the principle of good faith is ultimately limited by the principle of “no taxation without representation” and by the principle of equality in taxation. Therefore, the application of those rules to taxation must induce harmony in both reasonable and efficient ways.