상장주식의 양도세제에 관한 연구 (Taxation on capital gains from listed stock transfer)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국회계학회
· 수록지 정보 : 회계저널 / 25권 / 3호 / 29 ~ 53페이지
· 저자명 : 박성욱, 선우희연, 이정희

초록

정부는 공평과세의 원칙하에 비과세·감면제도 정비, 세원투명성 제고, 역외탈세 방지 강화 및 신규세원발굴을 위한 세법 개정을 통해 세수를 확보하려는 의지를 2015년 개정 세법에 반영하였다. 현행 소득세법은 대주주의 경우 상장여부에 관계없이 주식 양도차익에 대해 과세하고 있으나, 소액주주의 경우에는 비상장주식의 양도차익만 과세하고 있고 상장주식의 양도차익은 비과세하고 있다. 2016년 개정세법에서는 주식 양도차익이 과세되는 대주주의 범위를 넓힘으로서 상장주식 양도차익에 대한 과세권을 확대하였지만, 근본적으로 소액주주 상장주식의 양도차익에 대한 비과세는 과세 형평성을 떨어뜨린다. 따라서 이에 대해서 국회와 학계 등에서 지속적으로 논의가 되어 왔으며, 특히 세수확보의 시급성이 부각될 때마다 이러한 논란은 더욱 거세져왔다. 그러나 소액주주의 상장주식 양도차익에 대한 과세를 고려할 때 세수확보 뿐만 아니라 세수안정성에 대해서도 검토가 이루어져야 함에도 불구하고 정부는 세수 확보에만 관심을 갖는 것으로 보인다. 이에, 본 연구는 2000년부터 2013년까지 개인 주주의 주식 매도 자료를 바탕으로 주식 보유기간을 가정하여 연도별 주식양도소득세 및 증권거래세를 계산하여 세수규모와 세수변동성을 검토하였다. 분석결과, 상장주식의 양도차익 과세 시 증권거래세에 비하여 세수 안정성 측면에서는 실익이 없는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 양도차손의 이월공제를 허용하게 된다면 세수 확보 측면에서도 양도소득세 과세가 증권거래세 과세에 비해 우월하다고하기 힘들다. 이와 같은 결과는 증권거래세를 폐지하고 소액주주의 상장주식 양도소득에 대해 과세를 하는 방안보다는 현행 비과세제도를 유지하되, 과세대상범위를 늘리는 것이 세수확대 뿐만 아니라 세수 안정성을 확보하는데 있어 더 효과적임을 의미한다. 또한 본 연구의 결과는 상장주식의 양도차익에서도 과세되는 대주주의 범위를 넓힌 2016년도 개정세법이 장기적인 세수 안정성 측면에서 효과적일 것이라는 시사점을 제공한다.

영어초록

According to the announcement of Korean government on February 2015, the 2014 tax revenue increased by KRW 3,600 billion compared to the 2013 tax revenue, but it did not reach to the government revenue budget by KRW 10,600 billion. Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance stated that the major reasons for such shortage are the decrease of corporate income tax due to the deteriorated corporate performance, the decrease of value added tax and customs duty caused by the weak domestic demand and the dropped foreign exchange rate, and the reductions in the interest income tax and securities transaction tax due to the low interest rate and shrunk securities transaction. The Korean government expenditure on the national welfare is expected to increase rapidly because of the low birth rate and ageing population in Korea. However, the government revenue is not likely to be expanded easily, if the current tax system is maintained without discovering the new source of taxation. Hence, Korean government tried to increase the tax revenue through the tax amendment for 2015 in which the spirit of discovering new source of taxation is reflected by eliminating some tax benefit and enhancing the tax transparency.
As securing greater tax revenue becomes to be urgent, the taxation on the capital gains from transfer of listed stocks is newly highlighted. Under the current individual income tax law, capital gains from stock transfer obtained by majority shareholders are taxable regardless of types of stocks. In contrast, capital gains from stock transfer obtained by minority shareholders are taxable only when the stocks are unlisted. Since the disparity in the taxation on the capital gains from listed stock transfers deteriorates the equity on taxation, it causes the debates among the policy makers and the academic scholars. Specifically, the taxation on the capital gains from listed stocks transferred by minority shareholders is included in the plan for the expansion of tax revenue and the reform of tax system suggested by the National Assembly Budget Office in December 2011. Several prior studies (Hong and Kim 2010; Jeong and Han 2011; Jang and Choi 2012) also suggest that the capital gains from listed stocks earned by minority shareholders should be taxed to secure the tax equity and to procure the additional tax source. However, the reinforcement of taxation on capital gains may shrink the volume of securities transaction and damage the stability of stock prices (Somers 1948; Stiglitz 1983). Therefore, the policy which mitigates the shock from the taxation, such as the exemption of securities transaction tax or the allowance of offsetting capital losses should be accompanied (Kim et al. 2014). However, if the effect of such accompanying policies is greater than that of taxation on the capital gains obtained by minority shareholders of listed stocks, the results of the taxation may deviate from the government intent (i.e., to expand the tax revenue). Moreover, since the amount of capital gains tax is sensitive to the stock price movement, the taxation on the capital gains from listed stock transferred by minority shareholders may cause the reduction in the stability of tax revenue. Therefore, it calls for the analyses on the stability of taxation as well as the change in the tax amount when we consider the taxation for the capital gains from listed stocks of minority shareholders.
In this regard, this paper investigates the tax amount and stability of hypothetical capital gains tax which would be applied if the minority shareholders paid capital gains tax for listed stocks and compares the calculated capital gains tax with the securities transaction tax which is currently levying on the stock transfer, based on the daily stock transfer data executed by individuals for the period from 2000 to 2013. When we assume the stock holding periods as three, six months and one year, we find that there are large variations across the sample years on the capital gains amount obtained by the individual investors. When we calculate the related capital gains tax, the average capital gains tax amount for the sample period is greater than the average securities tax amount. However, the stability of taxation on the capital gains from listed stocks for minority shareholders is much lower than the stability of securities transaction tax. Moreover, if we consider the allowance of the carry-forward of capital losses for subsequent years, it is hard to say that the capital gains tax secures greater tax revenues compared to the securities transaction tax. The results are robust when we limit the stock transfer to the small and medium size stocks which are mainly invested by the individuals. Our results indicate that it would be better to maintain the current system (i.e., levying the securities transaction tax) and gradually enlarge the boundary of taxation for capital gains tax from stock transfers for the purpose of enhancing the stability as well as securing the tax revenue. Our suggestion is in line with the recent tax amendments for 2016 in which the range of majority shareholders subject to the capital gains tax for stock transfers is expanded, implying that such amendment accompanied by maintaining the securities transaction tax would be effective to collect the stable taxes from the long-term perspective.

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