2017년 국세기본법 판례회고

In 2017, many of various cases on the Frameworks Act on National Taxes were rendered. Among them, this article introduces some meaningful precedents on the tax investigation, the claim for reassessment, and the substance over form principle, followed by a short commentary on their implications. First, regarding tax investigation, the Supreme Court specified the meaning of tax investigation (Supreme Court Decision March 16, 2017, 2014du8360), and dealt with the meaning of “where faults are found in connection with at least two fiscal years”, which is one of the exceptions allowing re-investigation (Supreme Court Decision April 27, 2017, 2014du6562). Also Supreme Court clarified the effect of violation of the prohibition of tax re-investigation (Supreme Court Decision, December 13, 2017, 2016du55412). Next, regarding the ex post claim for reassessment, the Supreme Court clarified the commencement date of the prescribed period for the ex post claim for reassessment of taxation (Supreme Court Decision, August 23, 2017, 2017du38812), and addressed the relation between the ex post claim for reassessment and ordinary claim for reassessment (Supreme Court Decision, September 7, 2017, 2017du41470). Last, regarding substance over form principle, the Supreme Court mentioned, for the first time, Article 14, Section 3 of Framework Act on National Taxes (Supreme Court Decision, December 22, 2017, 2017du57516). The above precedents show that the Supreme Court put importance on strictness in the procedural aspect in principle, but considered harmony with fairness of taxation in individual cases, and this tendency seems to last in the future as well.