해외신탁 신고제도 도입 필요성과 정책방향

초록

Foreign trusts can be used as a means of tax avoidance to hide foreign－source income from being tracked by tax authorities. It is difficult for authorities to obtain information on the establishment, operation, and termination of foreign trusts, as both the assets and the trustee are outside their jurisdictions. In addition, Korea currently does not operate a system that collects, identifies, and directly regulates information on the use of offshore trusts by residents and domestic corporations at the government level. Due to this policy loophole, there is a room for Korean residents and domestic corporations to hide their offshore assets and to avoid tax obligations in Korea by using foreign trusts. In addition, as foreign economic activities increase and domestic financial and tax advisory businesses are advanced, the use of offshore tax havens increases, and tax avoidance cases using foreign trusts are expected to increase. Therefore, this study examines the risk of using foreign trusts for tax avoidance and discusses the necessity and the guideline to introduce the foreign trust reporting rule in Korea. Specifically, this study examines the domestic rules related to foreign trusts, the current status of Korea’s foreign financial account reporting system, the domestic and foreign tax avoidance cases using foreign trusts, and the details of foreign trust reporting systems in major countries such as the United States, France, and Canada. This study also summarizes policy implications for the introduction of the foreign trust reporting rule. In addition, this paper proposes a plan to make it mandatory to report foreign trusts by expanding the foreign financial account reporting system under the International Tax Adjustment Act.

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