특약매입거래에 의한 매출의 손익귀속시기에 관한 고찰

A “purchase transaction under a special contract” means a transaction in which a large franchise and retail business operator such as a department store purchases goods on credit from a supplier on the condition that he/she is allowed to return unsold goods from among the goods that he/she purchases, and pays a sales amount after subtracting profit of a specific margin or of a specific amount after selling such goods. A purchase transaction under a special contract can be viewed as a form of transaction in which the characteristics of a direct purchase, consignment sale and a rental transaction are combined together. Thus, a purchase transaction under a special contract possesses characteristics of various transaction forms. Even though actual sales did not occur such as sales on credit or sales conditioned on the return of unsold goods, the supplier bears corporate taxes and value added taxes in advance by setting the period during which gross income and deductible expenses accrue from sales pursuant to such transaction on the delivery date of the goods, in other words, the tax year during which the sales on credit occurs. Therefore, if goods are supplied to department stores or retail stores based on the condition of a purchase under a special contract so that the period during which gross income and deductible expenses accrue from a purchase transaction under a special contract will conform to the purpose of the settlement principles of claims and obligations and tax equalitarianism, it is advised that the period during which gross income and deductible expenses accrue under the Corporate Tax Act should be the fiscal year that includes the date on which the supply and sale of the relevant goods to the consumers become final. First, as a measure for improvement based on an interpretative approach, where it is deemed that a business transaction has occurred between the manufacturer and the seller when the products supplied by the manufacturer are sold at the department store, the seller, pursuant to the business terms agreed upon by the manufacturer and the seller, if such transaction is deemed to be a conditional sale as it can be interpreted to fall under the requirements for a conditional sale set forth under Article 28(2) of the Value Added Tax Act, it can be concluded that a transaction had occurred until the sale is finalized between the manufacturer and the seller as the point in time during which the business terms are satisfied is when the sale was made at the department store. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that the inventory products displayed at the department store, the seller, are inventory products of the manufacturer. Based on such interpretation, if the business operator enters into an agreement based on special business terms (special business terms) with the department store operator where the business operator supplies (delivers) taxable goods to the department store operator and the supply price is to be paid in the amount equal to the sale price received from customers of the relevant store minus a profit amount calculated as a certain percentage of the sale price, the receipt of such amount will eliminate the inconvenience of issuing a tax invoice to the department store operator. As such, when taking into consideration of the actual state of transactions conducted based on special purchase transactions, the interpretation such as the above can become a realistic alternative. Second, as a measure based on a legislative approach, in the case of a special purchase transaction, the transaction form between the supplier, the tenant store, and the department store only results in the physical movement of products when they are delivered to the department store and does not provide the supplier with the right claim payment. Taking into consideration that no claim-obligation relationship was formed between the supplier and the department store as the risk and benefit of the products did not transfer to the department store depending upon the return policy, it can be reasonably concluded that the point in time when the products are sold to consumers as the revertible business year of profit and loss regarding the sold products. To do so, as an alternative measure, Article 68(1)(6) of the Corporate Tax Act can be newly enacted to provide that, with respect to the sale of products satisfying the following conditions, the date of sale of the product to the end-consumer will be the revertible period of profit and loss. First, the products must be delivered to a store that sells products to end-consumers pursuant to a sales agreement based on a special purchase transaction and the products must be sold to buyers from such store. Second, products that are returned by consumers must be returned by the store. Third, the supplier will have the right to claim payment against a store with respect to only those products sold to customers by such store. Notwithstanding the above, another alternative would be to add a provision to the scope of the date of delivery under Article 33 of the Enforcement Regulations of the Corporate Tax Act as Section (3) that, where clothing articles, etc. are supplied to department stores and authorized dealer stores based on a special purchase condition, the day on which the supply is finalized as the relevant product is sold to a consumer.