어음할인의 과세문제

Abstract

Bill discounting means an act by which the legal holder of a bill transfers it to another person to get cash before its maturity date. It accounts for a great part of bank's loan business and gives bill holders opportunities to take cash in advance. According to Income Tax Act discount amount of accommodation bill is subject to taxation as an interest income because discounting accommodation bill is treated as loans. Furthermore National Tax Service interprets that discount amount of commercial bill is subject to taxation by the Article 16 (1) 12 of the Income Tax Act(profits accruing from a non-business loan). Also National Tax Service interprets that Article 28 of Coporate Tax Act(non-inclusion of interest paid in deductible expenses) is not applied to discount amount of commercial bill. However,Article 14 of the Act For the Cordination of International Tax Affairs(Noninclusion of interest deemed dividend in deductible expenses) is applied or not applied to discount amount of commercial bill depending on properties of transaction. I think it is necessary to take complimentary measures for improvement of taxation on bill discounting. First, discount amount of commercial bill should be taxed because discounting commercial bill performs the same functions as discounting accommodation bill in terms of financing. To achieve this, the part of "excluding commercial bills" among Article 102 (1) 4 of the Enforcement Decree of Income Tax Act should be eliminated.. Also, it is needed to unify standards between domestic transaction and international transaction in relation to inclusion of commercial bill discount amount in deductible expenses.