세무조사의 요건 및 절차와 권리구제에 대한 법적 검토― 재결과 판례에 나타난 주요 쟁점을 중심으로 ―

Tax investigation is a necessary means to achieve the large principle of fair taxation in countries having self-assessed tax payment as a principle, including Korea. Thus, the tax investigation system itself cannot be rejected merely based on the negative effects of the system. Of course, the tax authorities must also make efforts to obtain trust from the public and enhance transparency in the tax investigation process by considering its negative effects. To achieve such results, the tax investigation system should not escape its role as a means for taxation, its original purpose, as fundamental matter, and should not be used as a means for other purposes, such as restraining speculation of real estate or private education. Thus, tax investigations must be implemented when there are flaws or omissions in tax reports based on its original purpose, instead of being used as a means to achieve policy goals in a particular area. There is a need to mandatorily comply with the procedural matters so that the party under investigation may raise sufficient defense rights in the process of tax investigations. The case law and decisions until now take the position that, owing to the important value of the government’s taxation rights, pertaining tax measures are still valid even when some procedures are omitted. However, since compulsory investigations have characteristics that conform to criminal procedures, guaranteeing the lawfulness of procedures should not be treated lightly. In addition, when a taxpayer is damaged by breach of procedure, the taxpayer should be allowed to claim for relief of rights through a government compensation, and the taxpayers should be notified of their rights before the investigation. On the other hand, unforeseeable damages are occurring as matters relating to tax investigations are being exposed externally through informal routes, thus, apart from the investigations on tax omission, protection for personal information and business secrets of the party subject to investigation must be provided. An additionally matter to review is the advancement of tax investigation technologies. Thus, tax authorities should make efforts to achieve fair taxation while minimizing burden on taxpayers through voluntarily improving tax investigation methods. The core of this article is that taxation must be formed based on law and truth-discovery of tax requisitions within the mutual interaction of confirmation and defense between the tax authorities and taxpayers. Thus, this research sought a direction for system improvement where the lawfulness of each stage, from selection of tax investigation to taxation, may be complied with and the substantive truth may be discovered during such process, by examining the judgments by courts and tax tribunals on disputes relating to tax investigations.