공익신탁 과세제도의 개선방안 연구

Abstract

The Public Trust Act (“PTA”) was enacted in 2014 and came into effect in 2015. According to the PTA, a public trust is a trust under the Trust Act which mainly engages in public services and has been approved by the Minister of Justice. The Minister of Justice discloses the status of approved public trusts pursuant to the PTA, and as of May 2022, a total of 33 public trusts have been identified. The total entrusted amount in Korea’s trust business has increased rapidly, reaching KRW 1,166.7 trillion as of December 2021. On the other hand, the growth of public trusts has not reached that level. One of the reasons to account for the unpopularity of public trusts is that, while many studies have been accumulated on trusts in general, successfully resolving uncertainty in terms of tax practice, research on the taxation system of public trusts has not been active. Therefore, defining the taxation system for public trusts, to spot potential issues and present possible solutions, will aid in promoting the use of public trusts and developing the relevant taxation system. This study focuses on the concept of public trust and how the current taxation system of public trusts are operated, to spot potential issues with reference to case studies of other countries and finally recommending solutions to improve the public trusts taxation system. In order to find specific problems and suggest solutions, this study organized the issues that may come up at establishment stage of a public trust. In addition, this study conducted an analysis according to the subject of public trusts, such as grantor, trustee, recipient (the word ‘recipient’ is used instead of a ‘beneficiary’, because public trusts are a type of a purpose trust without a beneficiary), and trust property. During this process, systematic errors and problems appearing in each respective subject were discovered, and directions for improvement were found. In this process, several problems were discovered and improvement mea- sures were suggested. First, the possibility of conflicts between the provisions of the Corporate Tax Act was discovered and suggestions for improvement were suggested. Second, a plan was proposed to organize and simplify the complex public trust taxation system. Third, since it was confirmed that the income tax taxation regulations for public trusts were insufficient, we proposed an amendment to the regulations. Fourth, it pointed out that public trust trusts are not included in “public interest corporations, etc.” under the Corporate Tax Act, and suggested improvement measures. Fifth, it pointed out that public trusts are being discriminated against compared to public interest corporations in non-inclusion of deductible expenses for projects for specific purposes, and suggested improvement measures. Finally, argued for the resolution of the discrepancy between PTA and relevant taxation system.