차익거래에 대한 증권거래세 비과세방안에 관한 연구 - 연기금의 현·선물 차익거래를 중심으로 -

The three main pension funds in Korea, along with the Korea Post, have collaborated with the Korea Financial Investment Association since 2015 to push forth initiatives for tax exemptions on arbitrage transactions carried out by pension funds. Such endeavor took place in light of the levying of financial transaction taxes on the National Pension Service, Government Employees Pension Service, and Teacher’s Pension in 2010 and the Korea Post in 2014. As a result, volatility was impaired, reducing spot and futures arbitrage opportunities for domestic institutional investors and giving ways for foreign investors to dominate in these areas of trading. Therefore, it has come time to recognize that financial transaction tax exemptions on arbitrage transactions carried out by pension funds and legislative revisions necessary to implement such change are necessary in revitalizing arbitrage trading in Korea. The purpose of this paper is to discuss issues and seek improvement measures for current spot and futures arbitrage transactions in preparation of the legislative revisions instituting financial transaction tax exemptions for arbitrage trading carried out by pension funds. This paper attempts to make the following arguments. First, in order to revitalize arbitrage trading in Korea, it is necessary to at least provide tax exemption on arbitrage transactions carried out by pension funds. Currently, spot trading and futures trading in Korea have different taxation policies. That is, although financial transaction taxes are applied to spot trading, for futures trading, derivatives income taxes are applied instead. Hence, there is a need to readjust current tax policies for such trades. Second, continuous endeavors to push forth legislative revisions for the exemption of financial transaction tax for the pension funds as well as for the exemption of taxation on arbitrage transactions are necessary. Moreover, there is a pressing need to induce the revitalization of the financial market by appropriately taxing various financial instruments. Third, the legislative revisions regarding tax exemptions on arbitrage transactions carried out by pension funds must be carried forth insofar as to revitalize Korea’s arbitrage trading market for derivatives. This research is significant in that it has attempted to highlight the need and direction for the legislative revisions geared towards tax exemptions on arbitrage transactions carried out by pension funds as a means to revitalize domestic arbitrage trading activities.