부동산신탁의 부가가치세 납세의무자에 관한 연구

Abstract

Trust refers to a legal relation where a person(“truster”) transfers a specific piece of property to another person(“trustee”), who then establishes a security right or makes any other disposition and is required to manage, dispose of, operate, or develop such property or engage in other necessary conduct to fulfill the purpose of the trust, for the benefit of a specific person(“beneficiary”) or for a specific purpose, based on a confidence relation between the truster and the trustee. This paper addresses who should be the taxpayer among a truster, a trustee, or a beneficiary when a real property in trust is disposed of or sold. While no specific provision on this matter exists, the Supreme Court states that in the case of a trust where the truster himself receives benefits from the trust, the truster should be the taxpayer of Value-Added Tax, while in the case of a trust where a third party(beneficiary) other than the truster receives benefits from the trust, the beneficiary should be the taxpayer. The Supreme Court regards consignment sale and trust as same though both have different structures. In the case of a consignment sale, a consignee has no ownership of the objective goods, whereas in the case of a trust, a trustee has full ownership of the trust property. Further, the Supreme Court's view does not conform to the fundamental nature of Value-Added Tax since it is not a type of income tax based on to whom income through a transaction should be attributed, but a type of consumption tax focusing who is the supplier on a trade or sale. It is sufficient for a person to be a taxpayer under Value-Added Tax when he has full ownership and right to control and dispose of the objective goods. Since the trustee is a complete owner of a trust property, he should be the taxpayer of Value-Added Tax when the trust property is sold or disposed of. The amendment of relative articles of the current Value-Added Tax Act would be needed.