과세 목적의 해외자산 관련 세제에 대한 평가와 개선방안

As offshore tax evasion has become a major international concern, the Korean tax authorities introduced a tax system in 2011 to report foreign financial accounts, aiming to address the issue and improve taxation equity. In 2020, the obligation to submit data on overseas subsidiaries and the sanctions for non-fulfillment of the duty, which were regulated by the Corporate Tax Act and the Income Tax Act, were transferred to the Adjustment Of International Taxes Act. This transfer brought about significant changes to the tax system for foreign assets. Despite multiple revisions to enhance the overall effectiveness of the tax system related to foreign assets, which includes reporting foreign financial accounts and providing data on overseas subsidiaries, there are still areas that require further supplementation. The requirement to report foreign financial accounts applies to Korean residents or domestic companies that possess such accounts. For individuals, their obligation to report these accounts depends on whether they have a Korean address or have resided in Korea for a specific period. However, the criteria used to determine residency based on the address under the Income Tax Act need to be revised more in detail. In addition, the current regulation states that the reporting duty arises only if the account balance exceeds the specified amount on “one day of any last days of each month of the relevant year.” This regulation contradicts the tax neutrality, and therefore, needs to be amended. The holders of foreign financial accounts should basically be the subject of reporting such accounts. In addition, the account balance threshold for reporting needs to be lowered drastically, exempting individuals from reporting if their account balance is below the standard threshold. At the same time, incentives such as tax credits could be considered for those who voluntarily report their foreign financial accounts. The deadline for submitting reports for foreign financial accounts should be extended, and institutional procedures should be enhanced to ensure that individuals filing their income tax returns are aware of their obligation to report foreign financial accounts. Moreover, it is necessary to make sure that the information, which is used to efficiently and effectively manage the data collected through foreign financial account reporting, is written in the relevant form, and that the relevant regulations are amended to differentiate penalty based on the level of intention. It would be desirable to prepare specific guidelines for overseas subsidiaries’ data submission and establish a system in which the person obliged to submit data can more accurately fill out the relevant form. It is necessary to amend relevant regulations to make the laws and regulations more systematic, and integrate the forms to be submitted by the person responsible for data submission, then organically connect the information to be written in a unified form. There should be a plan to effectively utilize the submitted information, and applying tax credit can be considered for those who fulfill their duty to submit data, which requires considerable efforts and expenses to collect and submit related data. Moreover, it is necessary to set the scope of duty exemption for submitting data in accordance with the legislative purpose of data submission by overseas subsidiaries. This study has great significance in that it comprehensively reviews the tax system related to foreign assets for the first time since Chapter 4 of Adjustment Of International Taxes Act stipulated the reporting on foreign financial accounts and submission of data on overseas subsidiaries. It is also meaningful as it presents specific improvement plans. It is expected that this study can suggest a direction for preparing improvement plans for efficient and effective operation of tax system related to foreign assets.