상속세 과세체계의 개선방안에 관한 연구- 과세체계와 배우자상속공제를 중심으로 - (A Study on Improvement of Taxation System of Inheritance Tax - System of Inheritance Tax and Deductions for Spouse Holding -)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국세무학회
· 수록지 정보 : 세무학연구 / 35권 / 2호 / 51 ~ 80페이지
· 저자명 : 김두복, 서희열

초록

상속세의 과세에 대하여 이론적 근거가 여러가지이나 상속재산은 불로소득으로 부의 무상이전에 대한 소득재분배와 피상속인의 생존시 과세미비에 대한 보완의 효과 등 사회정책적 측면이 강하다고 판단된다.
본 연구는 우리나라가 최근 저출산-고령화 사회로 빠르게 진입하고 부(wealth)의 불평등 문제가 지속적으로 제기되는 상황에서 현행 상속세 과세제도의 핵심 쟁점이 되고 있는 다음의 사항에 대하여 주요 문제점을 살펴보고 그 개선방안을 제시하고자 한다.
첫째, 상속세의 과세체계를 유산세체계에서 유산취득세체계로 전환하여야 한다. 세수기여도와 조세행정의 난이도만을 고려하면 계속 유지하는 것이 맞다.
그러나 유산세체계는 과세행정의 과학화와 금융 및 부동산 실명제하에서 응능부담의 원칙에 반하고, 부의 분산을 억제하며, 상속세 부담을 과중하게 함으로써 상속세 과세를 정당화하는 사회정책적 역할이 미흡한 제도이다. 그러므로 현행 증여세 과세체계와 같이 상속인 각각의 상속으로 취득한 재산가액을 과세대상으로 하는 유산취득세체계로 전환하여야 한다.
둘째, 상속세의 납세의무확정방식은 정부결정제도에서 신고납세제도로 변경하여야 한다. 국민의 낮은 납세의식과 과세관청의 과세대상 포착에 대한 어려움으로 인해 정부결정방식을 채택하여 왔으나 납세 의식의 고양 및 전자세정 발달로 공평과세 확보를 위하여 신고납세제도로 변경하고 더불어 신고세액공제는 폐지하는 것이 바람직하다.
셋째, 부부간 상속은 완전면세나 전액공제하여야 한다. 부부간의 상속은 세대(世代) 간 이전이 아니고 배우자가 서로 협력하여 취득한 재산을 수평이전 하기 때문이다. 그리고 유산세체계하의 배우자상속공제는 다른 상속인에게 까지 그 혜택이 주어지는 문제가 있으므로 유산취득세체계로의 전환이 선행되어야 한다

영어초록

There are a number of theoretical grounds for imposing inheritance tax but it is more of a social policy that supplements both redistribution of income regarding gratuitous conveyance of wealth as inherited property is unearned income and inadequate taxation when an inheritee is alive.
The number of people who paid inheritance tax was 6,592 and the amount of tax paid was 1.9436 trillion won in 2015. It is approximately 0.89% of the entire inland tax revenue, which is insignificant compared to other tax items but on the other hand, tax rate is twice as much as that of OECD average 26%, which imposes excessive tax burden and causes a big problem in succession of family business.
To solve these problems, countries like Canada and Australia replaced inheritance tax with capital gains tax and others including Sweden, Italy, New Zealand and Portugal abolished inheritance tax. For fair taxation, therefore, it is necessary to establish practicable reform plans for dispersion of wealth, ability to pay and one-time taxation upon one generation, considering composition of taxation system for inheritance tax, taxation grounds and impact on national economy.
In the present situation with low birthrate and rapid aging of Korean society along with wealth inequality, this study is to examine the following issues of current taxation system of inheritance tax and to present improvement plans.
First, the taxation system of inheritance tax should be transformed from the current estate tax to the taxation on legatee. It would be justifiable to keep the current system when considering level of contribution to tax revenue and the degree of difficulty in tax administration only. However, its role as a social policy that justifies imposition of inheritance tax is insufficient in that it is against ability-to-pay principle under scientification of tax administration and real-name systems of financial transaction and property ownership; it hinders dispersion of wealth and; imposes excessive inheritance tax burden. Thus, it should be converted to taxation on legatee that levies tax on property value obtained by each inheritor’s inheritance as in the current gift tax system.
Second, how to determine tax liability of inheritance should be changed from government decision method to self assessment system. The government decision method has been adopted due to people’s low awareness of tax payment and taxing authorities’ difficulty of locating taxation target but it is now desirable to change into self assessment system to secure fair taxation as awareness of tax payment has been enhanced along with electric tax administration improved. In addition, deduction of reported tax should be completely abolished with the reform from the government decision method to the self assessment system considering achievement of its purpose to induce automatic tax filing and fairness with other tax items.
Third, conjugal property inheritance should be of full tax exemption or full amount deduction. It is because conjugal property inheritance is not intergenerational transfer but horizontal transfer of property that spouses have earned through cooperation. And deduction of conjugal inheritance under the estate tax system should be first converted to taxation on legatee as its benefits can be given to other inheritor.

참고자료

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