경제활성화를 위한 중소기업 세제지원 방안- 핵심인력 및 기술유출 방지를 중심으로 -

With the economic outlook so bleak, Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should aim to be hidden champions based on solid technologies, such as Germany and Taiwan in a long-term vision. This is also crucial to secure competitiveness based on stable economic growth and comparative advantage. However, because of the economic structure centered on conglomerates such as chaebol and the fact that Korean SMEs are affiliated with conglomerates for subcontracted relationships, the protection of technology is highly vulnerable. Especially in the case of SMEs, most of their technologies are of the “tacit knowledge” type, that is, business secrets and core technologies are incorporated in individual technicians, and the outflow of these key personnel means a technology leak. This shows the need for SMEs to protect the key technical personnel as well as the technology itself. The problem of technology leak is not only a huge loss in the point of view of the company that has developed the technology for the great amount of time and money invested in its development, but also a national problem in the sense that it undermines the company's willingness to develop technologies. According to the National Police Agency, SMEs are affected in 86% of cases related to technology leaks, which means that this is actually their problem. Based on the problem of improving the treatment of key technical personnel in the perspective of technology leak prevention presented in the previous study and the lack of Tax Exemption Regulations following Article 29 of the Act on the Support of Technology Protection of Small and Medium Enterprises, this study provides tax-deductible support for the key technical personnel of SMEs. The results of the study are summarized below. First, the following four types of maintenance costs for key technical personnel of SMEs are subject to a 10% tax deduction:(1) Additional monetary compensation for key technical personnel compared to other personnel of the same rank (2) Cost support for training specialists to protect technology in accordance with Article 16 of the Act on the Support of Technology Protection of Small and Medium Enterprises (3) Technology leak insurance covered by SMEs. (4) Job invention compensation covered by SMEs. Second, in the perspective of win-win cooperation between conglomerates and SMEs, if the conglomerates pay a contribution to institutions dedicated to support SMEs technology protection established under Article 14 of the Act on the Support of Technology Protection of Small and Medium Enterprises (currently three in operation), they are subject to a 10% tax deduction. Third, as a fiscal incentive for monetary compensation, which is granted in addition to technical personnel, raise the amount not subject to taxes from the cost of research or research activities of university teachers and personnel directly related to research, of the current 200,000 won (500,000 won ~ 1 million won) by separating it with another tax exemption regulation. And also exempts from taxation a certain amount (KRW 1 million ~ KRW 3 million) of wages received by qualified senior technicians, as defined in the Act on Qualified Technology Promotion and medalists of the Korean Master Hand Skills Competition but favoring SMEs. Fourth, invoke and apply the reward system for reporting (KRW 5 million ~ KRW 100 million) under Article 21 of the Act on Protection of Industrial Technology to the Act on the Support of Technology Protection of Small and Medium Enterprises exempting the income tax of such reward. The previous measures of fiscal support are based on the fact that the technology leak from SMEs is mainly an outflow of technicians equipped with technology. This is expected to strengthen the motivation of research and development of SMEs and contribute to the increase of employment of key technical human resources in SMEs.