Open Decision Ledger · Tax & international taxation
Provisional return absorbed by a different final return
Supreme Court, Dec. 30, 2021, 2017Du73297 (judgment)
No holding summary · checked against points at issue. The official text publishes no summary of the holding for this decision. The quotation and factors in this record are copied verbatim from the points at issue; the evidence for each axis is taken from the points at issue, the order and the reasons.
Case name: 양도소득세경정거부처분취소
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Where a taxpayer files a final return on capital gains income with content different from the provisional return, is the tax base and tax fixed provisionally by that return extinguished, and does the increase assessment made by the tax office on the basis of the provisional return likewise lose its effect?
Holding
Yes to both. Reading the content and scheme of the provisions and the legislative purpose of the provisional return payment system, the Court held that where a final return is filed with content different from the provisional return, the provisionally fixed tax base and tax are absorbed by those fixed by the final return and extinguished, and the increase assessment made on the basis of the provisional return loses its effect. A request to correct the assessment down to the final-return amounts therefore has no object and is also improper where it was made after the ninety-day period under the proviso to Article 45-2(1) of the Basic Act on National Taxes.
Points at issue, verbatim
예정신고에 의하여 잠정적으로 확정된 과세표준과 세액은 소멸하는지 여부(적극) 및 예정신고에 기초하여 과세표준과 세액을 경정한 과세관청의 증액경정처분 역시 효력을 상실하는지 여부(적극)
Unofficial English translation
Whether the taxable base and tax amount provisionally determined by a preliminary report are extinguished (affirmative), and whether the tax authority's upward revised assessment disposition, by which the taxable base and tax amount were revised on the basis of the preliminary report, likewise loses its effect (affirmative)
Disposition
Dismissed Stated in the decision
상고를 기각한다. 상고비용은 원고가 부담한다.
Unofficial English translation
The appeal is dismissed. The costs of the final appeal shall be borne by the plaintiff.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
납세자가 예정신고를 한 후 그와 다른 내용으로 확정신고를 한 경우에는 그 예정신고에 의하여 잠정적으로 확정된 과세표준과 세액은 확정신고에 의하여 확정된 과세표준과 세액에 흡수되어 소멸하고
Unofficial English translation
where a taxpayer filed a preliminary report and then filed a final report with contents different therefrom, the taxable base and tax amount provisionally determined by that preliminary report are absorbed into the taxable base and tax amount determined by the final report and are extinguished, and
Factors
- 납세자가 양도소득 과세표준 예정신고를 한 후 그와 다른 내용으로 확정신고를 한 경우
- 예정신고에 기초하여 과세표준과 세액을 경정한 과세관청의 증액경정처분
Unofficial English translation
• Where the taxpayer filed a preliminary report on the income tax base for transfer income and then filed a final report with contents different therefrom
• the tax authority's upward revised assessment disposition, by which the taxable base and tax amount were revised on the basis of the preliminary report
Relation to precedent
Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision
대법원 2008. 5. 29. 선고 2006두1609 판결(공2008하, 926)
Unofficial English translation
Supreme Court Decision 2006Du1609 decided May 29, 2008 (Gong 2008 Ha, 926)
Decisions referred to
대법원 2008. 5. 29. 선고 2006두1609 판결(공2008하, 926)
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
If a final return repeats the content of the provisional return in full, do the provisionally fixed tax base and tax survive, and does the increase assessment based on that provisional return remain effective?
A later decision on final returns that repeat the provisional return, or on the fate of an increase assessment once the provisional tax base is extinguished, would call for a fresh reading. An amendment to Article 110 or Article 114 of the former Income Tax Act, or to Article 45-2(1) of the Basic Act on National Taxes, would also do so.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
7 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-26
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 7 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “If a final return repeats the content of the provisional return in full, do the provisionally fixed tax base and tax survive, and does the increase assessment based on that provisional return remain effective?” vs Independent “Would a final return filed after the statutory deadline likewise extinguish an increased assessment based on the preliminary return?”
The primary reading asks about a final return repeating the provisional return while the independent reading asks about a final return filed after the statutory deadline.
예정신고에 의하여 잠정적으로 확정된 과세표준과 세액은 소멸하는지 여부(적극) 및 예정신고에 기초하여 과세표준과 세액을 경정한 과세관청의 증액경정처분 역시 효력을 상실하는지 여부(적극)Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Seoul High Court, in its judgment of 17 November 2017 (2017Nu57846), stated that the final return could not be seen as absorbing and extinguishing the capital gains tax base and tax fixed by the provisional return and by the increase assessment made on it. It nevertheless held the tax office's refusal of the taxpayer's request for correction lawful.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court held that the reasoning on non-absorption was inappropriate. The provisional tax base and tax must be absorbed by those fixed by the final return and extinguished, following Supreme Court Decision 2006Du1609, and the increase assessment made on the provisional return likewise loses its effect. It then held the conclusion below correct, because the correction request had no object and was also made after the period under the proviso to Article 45-2(1) of the Basic Act on National Taxes, and dismissed the appeal by the unanimous opinion of the Justices.
Distinguishing conditions
- A final return whose content repeats the provisional return, since the rule is stated for a final return filed with content different from the provisional return.
- A case in which the taxpayer filed no provisional return, since the provisionally fixed tax base and tax arise only from the provisional return.
- A correction request made within the period under the proviso to Article 45-2(1) of the Basic Act on National Taxes, since the Court gave the expiry of that period as an independent ground of impropriety.
Record verification notes
Set the file against four points: the date and content of each return, since the rule turns on a final return whose content differs from the provisional return; the basis of the increase assessment, since the loss of effect attaches to an assessment made on the provisional return; the date the taxpayer learned of that assessment, since the refusal rested in part on the ninety-day period; and whether the request sought the very amounts the effective final return had already fixed, which the Court said cannot be allowed even if the request is read as one against the final return.
From the official text
Points at issue
납세자가 양도소득 과세표준 예정신고를 한 후 그와 다른 내용으로 확정신고를 한 경우, 예정신고에 의하여 잠정적으로 확정된 과세표준과 세액은 소멸하는지 여부(적극) 및 예정신고에 기초하여 과세표준과 세액을 경정한 과세관청의 증액경정처분 역시 효력을 상실하는지 여부(적극)
Unofficial English translation
Whether the taxable base and tax amount provisionally determined by a preliminary report are extinguished where the taxpayer filed a preliminary report on the income tax base for transfer income and then filed a final report with contents different therefrom (affirmative), and whether the tax authority's upward revised assessment disposition, by which the taxable base and tax amount were revised on the basis of the preliminary report, likewise loses its effect (affirmative)
Summary of the holding
The official text publishes no summary of the holding for this decision. The quotation and factors in this record are copied verbatim from the points at issue; the evidence for each axis is taken from the points at issue, the order and the reasons.
Order
상고를 기각한다. 상고비용은 원고가 부담한다.
Unofficial English translation
The appeal is dismissed. The costs of the final appeal shall be borne by the plaintiff.
Provisions referred to
구 소득세법(2016. 1. 19. 법률 제13797호로 개정되기 전의 것) 제105조 제1항 제1호, 제110조 제1항, 제4항, 제111조 제1항, 제3항, 제114조 제2항
Read 2026-10-26 · Cross-read 2026-10-26. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
Every entry is published only after all quotes have been matched character by character against the official text, and audited by an independent second reading from a different model family across all eight axes. Both agreed axes and text-grounded interpretive divergences are recorded openly. The ledger is a research record, not an assessment of the court or advice on any matter.
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