Priority payment of tax and wage claims in a bankruptcy foreclosure auction

1. 01Question

   In an auction on the exercise of a separate satisfaction right over a bankrupt debtor's property, must a tax claim that has priority over other secured creditors be paid first, and must its distribution be handed to the bankruptcy trustee rather than to the tax office, and does that principle also govern a super-priority wage claim arising before Article 415-2 of the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act came into force?

2. 02Holding

   Yes on both counts. A handover request by the tax office over a tax claim with priority is given only a limited effect, to stop the secured creditor from gaining from bankruptcy and to secure an adequate source of distribution, so the claim is paid before other secured creditors but the money goes to the bankruptcy trustee, who then distributes it among estate claimants. The same rule applies to super-priority wage claims arising before Article 415-2 was added; under Article 415-2 as enacted, a worker may demand distribution and receive the money directly, while the proviso excludes only direct receipt by the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service that paid the claim in the employer's stead, and does not strip that body of its priority under Article 8(2) of the Wage Claim Security Act.

   Points at issue, verbatim

   별제권 행사에 따른 경매절차에서 과세관청이 관련 법령에 따라 다른 담보물권자보다 우선변제권을 가진 조세채권에 관하여 교부청구를 한 경우, 조세채권에 우선 배당하여야 하는지 여부(적극) 및 이때 배당금은 파산관재인에게 교부하여야 하는지 여부(적극)

   Unofficial English translation

   Where, in an auction procedure conducted upon exercise of the right of separate satisfaction, a tax authority makes a claim for distribution in respect of a tax claim that, under the relevant statutes and regulations, holds the right to preferential payment over other holders of security interests, whether the tax claim must be distributed in priority (affirmative), and whether the distribution proceeds must then be delivered to the bankruptcy trustee (affirmative)

3. 03Disposition

   Dismissed Stated in the decision

   상고를 기각한다. 상고비용은 원고가 부담한다.

   Unofficial English translation

   The appeal is dismissed. The costs of the final appeal are to be borne by the plaintiff.

4. 04Form of the test

   Elements stated Read from the decision

   이것은 고용노동부장관의 위탁을 받은 근로복지공단이 사업주를 대신하여 지급한 최우선임금채권에 대해서는 이 사건 조항 본문의 적용을 배제함으로써 임금채권보장법 제8조 제2항의 규정에도 불구하고 근로복지공단이 우선변제권을 가지는 배당금을 직접 수령하여 변제받을 수 없다는 의미로 보아야 하고

   Unofficial English translation

   This must be understood to mean that, as regards a highest-priority wage claim paid by the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service, which has been entrusted by the Minister of Employment and Labor, on behalf of the business owner, the application of the main text of the provision at issue is excluded, so that, notwithstanding Article 8 (2) of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act, the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service cannot directly receive and be satisfied out of the distribution proceeds to which it holds the right to preferential payment, and

5. 05Factors

   • 별제권 행사에 따른 경매절차에서 과세관청이 관련 법령에 따라 다른 담보물권자보다 우선변제권을 가진 조세채권에 관하여 교부청구를 한 경우
   • 이때 배당금은 파산관재인에게 교부하여야 하는지 여부
   • 채무자 회생 및 파산에 관한 법률 제415조의2가 신설·시행되기 전에 발생한 최우선임금채권에 관하여 임금채권자가 별제권 행사에 따른 경매절차에서 한 배당요구에 대해서도
   • 근로자가 채무자 회생 및 파산에 관한 법률 제415조의2 본문에 따라 별제권 행사에 따른 경매절차에서 최우선임금채권에 대하여 배당요구를 한 경우
   • 같은 조 단서 규정이 사업주를 대신하여 최우선임금채권을 지급한 근로복지공단의 임금채권보장법 제8조 제2항에 따른 우선변제권 행사를 제한하는 취지인지 여부

   Unofficial English translation

   • Where, in an auction procedure conducted upon exercise of the right of separate satisfaction, a tax authority makes a claim for distribution in respect of a tax claim that, under the relevant statutes and regulations, holds the right to preferential payment over other holders of security interests

   • whether the distribution proceeds must then be delivered to the bankruptcy trustee

   • even as regards a demand for distribution made by a wage claimant in an auction procedure conducted upon exercise of the right of separate satisfaction in respect of a highest-priority wage claim that arose before Article 415-2 of the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act was newly enacted and entered into force

   • Where an employee makes a demand for distribution in respect of a highest-priority wage claim in an auction procedure conducted upon exercise of the right of separate satisfaction pursuant to the main text of Article 415-2 of the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act

   • whether the proviso to the same Article is intended to restrict the exercise of the right to preferential payment under Article 8 (2) of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act by the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service, which paid the highest-priority wage claim on behalf of the business owner

6. 06Relation to precedent

   Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision

   대법원 2003. 6. 24. 선고 2002다70129 판결(공2003하, 1582)

   Unofficial English translation

   Supreme Court Decision 2002Da70129 decided June 24, 2003 (Gong 2003 Ha, 1582)

   Decisions referred to

   [1] 대법원 2003. 6. 24. 선고 2002다70129 판결(공2003하, 1582)

7. 07Burden of proof

   Not addressed Not in the decision

8. 08Open question and revisit condition

   How must the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service record and press its Article 8(2) priority claim in the distribution so that the bankruptcy trustee passes the money on to it rather than to other estate claimants?

   A later decision construing the proviso to Article 415-2 or the effect of the tax office's handover request differently would require this entry to be read again. So would an amendment to Article 415-2 of the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act or to Article 8 of the Wage Claim Security Act, or any change to Articles 473, 475, 476 and 477 on estate claims.

Read 2026-10-25 · Cross-read 2026-10-25. 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.