법인이익의 주주분배 관련 과세 제도 연구：EU 국가들과의 비교

[Purpose] This study aims to investigate the polices regarding the distribution of corporate profits focusing on EU countries and therefore provide policy implications for improving the taxation on shareholders in Korea. [Methodology] This study provides comparative research on the regimes of major EU countries (the U.K., Germany, and France) regarding capital transactions and profit distribution from the perspective of corporate and tax laws. [Findings] The research indicates that the basic mechanism of shareholder taxation and determination of distributable profits does not differ fundamentally between Korea and the EU countries under review, whereas the EU countries tend to apply more consistent and simpler rules for determining the distributable profits than Korea the taxation regime of which relies on the ultimate source of the distributed income. In addition, relatively limited number of EU countries appear to allow the dividend from capital reserves under the corporate law purpose and even such countries treat the dividend as taxable income, in contrast with Korea. [Policy Implications] This study suggests that policy makers should revisit the fundamental logic for identifying the portion of income distribution from capital transactions and intensify the relevant corporate and tax regulations to prevent the abusive implementation of capital reserve dividend.