주주골프회원권 양도와 부가가치세

A golf club equity membership basically offers to the holder thereof the right to use the relevant golf club facilities exclusively or at least on a more favorable conditions compared to non-members ("facilities usage right") and one share issued by the golf club. In many cases, it is also accompanied by the right to request refund of deposit made when the golf clube equity membership was issued. So, transferring a golf club equity membership means transferring all these rights collectively in one transaction. Under the current tax practices, transfer of a share or a monetary claim is not subject to VAT. The supreme court case discussed in this article still held that the VAT tax base for a transfer of a golf club equity membership is the total consideration received therefor, which means that the price of the share and the deposit refund are also included in the VAT tax base. The supreme court's reasoning is that the main transaction is the transfer of facilities usage right and the transfer of the share and/or the refund deposit are ancillary transactions only. Considering the current practices of issuing golf club equity membership and the transfer thereof, it is questionable whether the transfer of facilities usage right can be considered as is the main transaction all the time. If it is determined that the transfer of facilities usage right is in fact only an ancillary transaction, then, following the supreme court's logic, VAT cannot be imposed in such case. However, as redressing such undesirable consequences is beyond the scope of interpretation, legislative measures should be taken.