소득세법상 추계과세제도에 관한 연구

Tax systems can be divided into a self-assessment system and a government-assessment system. Most countries including South Korea apply the self-assessment system to most items including the income tax, the corporate tax and the value added tax. In the case of the income tax under the self-assessment system, the tax amount is calculated based on the direct materials such as the taxpayer’s account, which is referred to as ‘actual amount-taxation.’ In cases where it is difficult or impossible to investigate the direct materials and thus to calculate the actual amount, however, there is no alternative but to estimate the tax amount from indirect materials, which is referred to as ‘estimated taxation.’ In South Korea, the amount of income was estimated by the standard income rate in the past. However, the standard income rate violates the ability-to-pay principle and the principle of tax equity as well, with which many problems had constantly brought up against the standard income rate. At this, the standard income rate was changed into the basic expense rate (simple expense rate) in 2002, but there is no denying that is also cannot solve the existing problems; to be concrete, the standard income rate is calculated by being multiplied by the amount of income, and the basic expense rate is calculated by being subtracted from the amount of income. In short, they are not much different from each other in substance. As a result, the estimated taxation system also violates the ability-to-pay principle and the principle of tax equity as well. Thus, it needs to be changed as in the following: Under the current law, the methods of estimated taxation are regarded as illustrative regulations. The problem is that tax amount varies depending upon the method of estimated taxation, and so it is not advisable in terms of predictability. Accordingly, it is required to more concretely specify ‘the other methods that are accepted by the director of the national tax service as reasonable’ in item 3 of clause 3 of article 143 of the enforcement decree of the income tax act in order to give taxpayers predictability. One of the most important factors in estimated taxation is the basic expense rate or the simple expense rate. Nevertheless, in Korea, the current two rates are destitute of rationality; more specifically, the basic expense rate is at a very low level, but the simple expense rate is at a very high level. As the case stands, the two rates need to be balanced with each other. Obviously, estimated taxation is a method to determine the tax amount; hence, the method needs to be refined on in accordance with the ability-to-pay principle.