The judgment of Supreme Court Decision 2014Du46935 sentenced March 29, 2018 deals with whether interest paid on the general loan which accounted for expenses can be included in the tax bases of acquisition tax.
In the case of the local tax law, there ...
The judgment of Supreme Court Decision 2014Du46935 sentenced March 29, 2018 deals with whether interest paid on the general loan which accounted for expenses can be included in the tax bases of acquisition tax.
In the case of the local tax law, there is no self-integrated regulation on the calculation standard of the interest for construction capital, so it has applied the corporate tax law or the calculation method of the accounting standards. In business practice, accounting standards and the corporate tax law do not reflect the opportunity cost of equity on profit and loss. Therefore, only interest expenses appropriated for construction capital which is external borrowing is added to the acquisition cost of the asset. Meanwhile, even if interest expenses paid on loans are included in the acquisition cost of the assets, the problem of how to determine the scope of capitalization of general loan which does not have a direct correspondence with the construction capital is a major issue in the tax practice and the Supreme Court Judgment.
In the Supreme Court Judgment, as long as general loans are indirectly used and substantially invested in order to acquire the tax object, it can be included in tax bases of acquisition tax. Also, it gave a decision that tax authority is required to prove that general loans are used to acquire the tax object.
However, it is very difficult to track down concretely the amount of capital to acquire specific assets in corporate financing and operations. Besides, the corporate tax law and business accounting assume the flow of funds that general loans are primarily used to acquire fixed assets. In addition, it is not easy for tax authority to prove the use of loans to acquire the tax object. It is because tax payers govern use of loans, usage limitation of loans, financing and planning of loans and the current state of funds.
Therefore, it is considered that the Supreme Court Judgment which demands the burden of proof to the tax authority without taking into consideration of the reality of actual fund operation is unreasonable. Also, the responsibility of proof that general loans are used to acquire the tax object should be attributed to the taxpayer.