국제조세분야에서의 미국 개정 세법의 의의

In the end of 2017, U.S. Congress passed the most sweeping tax reform bill in decades. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduced federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% and revamped the international tax system. First, the Act provides for an exemption for certain foreign income. This exemption is provided for by means of a 100% deduction for the "foreign-source portion" of dividends received from specified 10% owned foreign corporations by domestic corporations that are U.S. shareholders of those foreign corporations within the meaning of Code Sec. 951(b). Second, a U.S. shareholder of any CFC has to include in gross income for a tax year its global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) in a manner generally similar to inclusions of subpart F income. GILTI means, with respect to any U.S. shareholder for the shareholder's tax year, the excess (if any) of the shareholder's net CFC tested income over the shareholder's net deemed tangible income return. Third, certain corporations with average annual gross receipts of at least $500 million are required to pay tax, the "base erosion anti-abuse tax" (BEAT), equal to the "base erosion minimum tax amount" for the tax year. Lastly, for the CFC regime, the Act modified CFC status attribution rules, expanded the definition of "U.S. shareholder", and eliminated 30-day minimum holding period for CFC, resulting in expansion of the scope of CFC taxation. This article explains the important changes of U.S. tax reforms in perspective of international taxation and discusses their implications to the Korean international tax system.