我國涉外所得租稅管轄權範圍之研究－兼評臺北高等行政法院95年訴字第1948號判決

Abstract

一國涉外所得課稅法制之良窳，決定外國資金、人員、技術及文化進入本國流通之意願，而對於仰賴國際貿易的我國經濟體系而言，外國資金、人員及技術的投入早已為我國經濟發展的主要推動力，因此如何健全我國所得涉外課稅法制，在維護我國稅收利益與遵守國際稅法原則間取得平衡，即為主管機關當前最重要的一項課題。 涉外所得課稅之首要先決的問題，即係判定涉外所得是否為我國租稅管轄權範圍之所及，目前我國現行關於涉外所得租稅管轄權之規定，主要見諸於所得稅法第2條、第3條及第8條及我國與他國所簽訂之各項所得稅租稅協定等，其中所得稅法相關條文多年來未隨時代的進步及國際稅法的潮流與時俱進，因此不但造成我國所得稅基的嚴重流失，同時相關法令規定在實務上亦無法產生完全明確的規範效果，不僅有違法律明確性之要求，亦無謂增加涉外所得人及扣繳義務人面臨不可預期之稅務風險，另外，為健全租稅協定有關之稅捐稽徵作業，財政部特別訂定「適用租稅協定稽徵作業要點」以資適用，惟該要點本質上屬於行政規則，但查其規範內容卻不乏直接對外發生法律效力之事項，於行政法理上顯有未洽，而論其細節規定，亦有再行商榷之餘地，未來實有通盤檢討當前我國所得稅涉外課稅法令之必要 其次，在實務運作層次上，我國財政部及稅捐稽徵機關在認定涉外所得是否屬於我國課稅權範圍時，在實務的長年運作下對相關法令衍生出一套相當特殊的解釋方法與適用體系，因而對於個案所得是否為我國租稅管轄權所及之核定結果，常受涉外所得人質疑未依稅法本旨而為適用，導致實務上相關案件爭議不斷，從而財政部及稅捐稽徵機關核定結果是否合乎相關稅法規定之立法本旨及精神，實應作進一步的探討，以降低稅法適用之不確定性並落實憲法保障納稅人基本權之意旨。

The rise of international trade spurred the need for international taxation schemes, where international tax law concepts attempt to coordinate laws rectifying competing jurisdictional taxation powers. In order to function properly, both territorial and worldwide system generally contains rules that define when an item of income is sourced within their jurisdiction. The perquisite for determining cross-border income tax in our country lies in the one critical question : whether the said income is within the tax jurisdiction of the Republic of China. Currently, there have been major gaps between the relevant articles under the Income Tax Law of the Republic of China and the international taxation system nowadays. This has not only led to the gradual loss of our income tax base, but also created potential risks and ambiguities for tax payers when facing taxation rulings for offshore products and services. In addition, the current “Operating Guidelines for the application of taxation treaties”(“Guidelines”) only possesses the nature of administrative guidelines and cannot create any legal binding effect by itself. Questions therefore arouse from the inherent administrative nature of Guidelines and also the appropriateness of the detailed requirements stipulated under the Guidelines. Furthermore, from the administrative practice standpoint, it has been observed that unique interpretation methods and ways of determining income tax have been long developed by the tax authorities when dealing with cross-border income issues. The unique ways of applying the taxation ruling have incurred doubts from the tax payers and also lead to various critics questioning whether these practices are in conformity with the basic spirits and intention of the Income Tax Law. This Article proposes a source tax system for the determining of cross-border income which is in line with the modern international taxation system. The Article will also introduces the Court Decision of 2006 Su-Zi No. 1948 by the Taipei High Administrative Court to provide in-depth analysis of the current methodology supported by the authorities for cross-border income tax issues. By examining the methodology and contents of the Court Decision of 2006 Su-Zi No. 1948 by the Taipei High Administrative Court, this Article seeks to achieve a more clear guidance for the cross-border income tax issues in order to reduce the ambiguities under the tax regulations in the Republic of China, and to further enhance the basic rights empowered inherently to the tax payers under the Constitution of the Republic of China.