수정수입세금계산서 발급제한에 관한 소고

Abstract

Since the amendment of the Value Added Tax Act in 26th July 2013, corrected import tax invoice is not issued to taxpayer when : (1) the head of customhouse decides/rectify the tax base/tax amount of value added tax, or (2) taxpayer reports correction of tax base/tax amount after knowing that it would be decided/rectified due to reasons prescribed by the Presidential Decree(e.g. customs officer’s customs investigation). Before the amendment, issuance of corrected import tax invoice was not restricted by the above-mentioned reasons. As a result, even if the importer –who is also the taxpayer- failed to report value added tax on purpose and was discovered by customs officers, he/she could pass on the burden of additionally imposed tax to the next step of transaction by receiving input tax deduction. Although such conclusion might adhere to the principal of value added tax in that only value added newly created during transaction steps should be object of taxation, it inevitably limited the head of customhouse’s ability to counter underdeclaration. As customs-free area is increased due to lower/zero tariff rate by FTAs etc., the matter of whether taxpayer makes faithful tax returns on value added tax of imported goods is expected to become an even more important issue. Furthermore, the importer would be tempted to omit value added tax returns as long as corrected import tax invoice is issued without hindrance, because the importer’s legal position is both (1) the taxpayer who has to report and pay value added tax of imported good and (2) the person to whom goods are supplied so that he/she is eligible for input tax deduction. Restricting issuance of corrected import tax invoice by law risks going against the invoice method of the Value Added Tax Act, and it also causes a controversy over breaching the rights of importer by exclusion of input tax deduction. However, additional tax alone is insufficient to encourage faithful tax returns, and the usage of criminal punishment is limited. Moreover, restrictions on issuance of corrected import tax invoice cannot be denied outright, since such restrictions regarding issuance of corrected tax invoice have already been implemented against insincere taxpayers in domestic transactions. The Constitutional Court and Supreme Court also acknowledges exclusion of input tax deduction under certain circumstances as a matter of policy, therefore restricting issuance of corrected import tax invoice does not violate the principal of proportionality, the principal of equality, the prohibition on retroactive taxation and the protection of trust. In addition, corrected import tax invoice may be issued when : (1) taxpayer voluntarily corrects value added tax amount, or (2) taxpayer proves that he/she is not at fault for the originally incorrect tax returns. Corrected import tax invoice can also be issued when the incorrect tax returns were caused by taxpayer’s simple error – however, such exception of ‘simple error’ should be interpreted as narrowly as possible. Finally, the starting point of refusal to issue corrected import tax invoice should be the moment when taxpayer paid value added tax, and it the relevant statutes of the Value Added Tax Act must be intepreted in such a way that only non-issuance of plus(+) corrected import tax invoice matters, not minus(-) corrected import tax invoice. It should also be noted that ‘import invoice’ falls outside the scope of restricting issuance of corrected import tax invoice.