주주분배 과세를 위한 세무상 자본분류의 입법화 방안 연구

초록

A firm that issues stocks can transfer its assets to shareholders in the form of capital reduction, dividends, and acquisition of treasury stocks in return for their contribution. This is called shareholder distribution. From the perspective of shareholders who have received property distribution, the distribution is classified as either dividend income or capital refund. The tax effect of the distribution varies considerably depending on such classification. In principle, distributions from capital contributed by shareholders in the past should be taxed as capital refunds, while distributions derived from retained earnings should be taxed as dividend income. In order to follow this principle, the issuing firm must classify its total capital into either contributed capital or retained earnings for tax purposes. However, there is no explicit provision on capital classification for tax purposes in the current Korean corporate tax law. For this reason, the issuing firm’s accounting treatments of shareholder distribution are generally accepted in practice, which allows the issuing firm to discretionally determine the type of shareholder distribution in a way that is more tax－favorable to its shareholders. The purpose of this study is to propose an introduction to the corporate tax codes for capital classification in Korea. To this end, the present study examines the current status of shareholder distribution of Korean firms and relevant legislation in the United States, Japan, and Germany. Based on the research, this study finds that In fact, Korean firms distribute assets to shareholders in various ways other than dividends. The present study also finds that major countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany, have already incorporated tax codes for capital classification in their corporate tax laws to ensure reasonable taxation of shareholder distributions. To provide specific recommendations, this study proposes corporate tax law codes that classify the total capital of an issuing firm into paid－in capital and retained earnings for tax purposes. In addition, this study proposes a regulation that initially accepts the accounting treatment of the issuing company’s distribution to shareholders but denies the arbitrary transfer of paid－in capital to retained earnings or vice versa. Lastly, introducing a new tax reporting form that manages accounting－tax differences in paid－in capital is also recommended.

키워드