Open Decision Ledger · Tax & international taxation
Validity of the Decree's proviso for sales outside the valuation period
Supreme Court, Apr. 2, 2026, 2025Du35499 (judgment)
Case name: 증여세부과처분취소[보충적 평가방법으로 증여세를 신고·납부하였으나 감정가액의 평균을 시가로 보아 증여세를 부과한 문제 된 사안]
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Does the proviso to Article 49(1) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act, which allows a price from a sale outside the valuation period to be counted in the market price of gifted property, exceed the delegation in Article 60(1) and (2) of the former Act and so be void?
Holding
No. Article 60(1) of the former Act declares the market-price principle, and Article 60(2) explains market price as the objective exchange price ordinarily formed between unidentified persons transacting freely, gives an approximate basis for it and delegates its specific scope to Presidential Decree. The items of Article 49(1) of the former Enforcement Decree only set out representative cases of market price, and the proviso separately concretises the conditions for treating a sale outside the valuation period as the market price, so it stays within the delegation. The Court dismissed all the plaintiffs' appeals.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
구 상증세법 시행령 제49조 제1항 단서는 객관적 교환가치에 부합하도록 상속 또는 증여재산의 가액을 산정하기 위해 ‘평가기간에 해당하지 않는 기간’ 중에 속한 매매 등의 가액일지라도 이를 상속 또는 증여재산의 시가로 볼 수 있는 요건을 별도로 구체화·명확화하고 있는바, 이 역시 모법인 구 상증세법 제60조 제1항 및 제2항의 위임범위를 벗어난 무효의 규정이라고 볼 수 없다.
Unofficial English translation
The proviso to Article 49(1) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act separately concretizes and clarifies the requirements for regarding, as the market value of inherited or gifted property, even the amount of a sale or the like falling within a 'period that does not correspond to the valuation period', in order to calculate the value of inherited or gifted property so as to conform to objective exchange value, and accordingly this, too, cannot be regarded as a null and void provision exceeding the scope of delegation under Articles 60(1) and (2) of the former Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act as the parent act.
Disposition
Dismissed Stated in the decision
상고를 모두 기각한다. 상고비용은 원고들이 부담한다.
Unofficial English translation
All appeals are dismissed. The appeal costs shall be borne by the plaintiffs.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
구 상증세법 시행령 제49조 제1항 단서는 객관적 교환가치에 부합하도록 상속 또는 증여재산의 가액을 산정하기 위해 ‘평가기간에 해당하지 않는 기간’ 중에 속한 매매 등의 가액일지라도 이를 상속 또는 증여재산의 시가로 볼 수 있는 요건을 별도로 구체화·명확화하고 있는바
Unofficial English translation
The proviso to Article 49(1) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act separately concretizes and clarifies the requirements for regarding, as the market value of inherited or gifted property, even the amount of a sale or the like falling within a 'period that does not correspond to the valuation period', in order to calculate the value of inherited or gifted property so as to conform to objective exchange value,
Factors
- 재산의 평가란 특정 시점을 기준으로 재산이 갖는 가치를 화폐 단위로 환산하여 산정하는 것을 말한다.
- 시가가 불특정 다수인 사이에 자유롭게 거래가 이루어지는 경우에 통상 성립된다고 인정되는 객관적 교환가격을 의미함을 전제로
- 입법자가 시가주의에 근접한 평가방법을 선택할 수 있는 입법재량 내에서
- 객관적 교환가치에 부합하도록 상속 또는 증여재산의 가액을 산정하기 위해
- ‘평가기간에 해당하지 않는 기간’ 중에 속한 매매 등의 가액일지라도 이를 상속 또는 증여재산의 시가로 볼 수 있는 요건을 별도로 구체화·명확화하고 있는바
Unofficial English translation
• The valuation of property means calculating the value that property has at a certain point in time by converting it into monetary units.
• On the premise that market value means the objective exchange price that is ordinarily regarded as being established where transactions are freely conducted among an unspecified number of persons,
• within the legislative discretion of the legislator in selecting a valuation method close to the market value principle,
• in order to calculate the value of inherited or gifted property so as to conform to objective exchange value,
• separately concretizing and clarifying the requirements for regarding, as the market value of inherited or gifted property, even the amount of a sale or the like falling within a 'period that does not correspond to the valuation period'
Relation to precedent
Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision
대법원 2001. 8. 21. 선고 2000두5098 판결(공2001하, 2482)
Unofficial English translation
Supreme Court Decision 2000Du5098 decided August 21, 2001 (Gong 2001 Ha, 2482)
Decisions referred to
대법원 2001. 8. 21. 선고 2000두5098 판결(공2001하, 2482), 대법원 2010. 1. 14. 선고 2007두23200 판결(공2010상, 353)
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
How does the valuation deliberation committee weigh the factors named in the proviso, namely the company's trading condition, the lapse of time and changes in the surrounding environment, and what evidence does it require for each?
An amendment to Article 60 of the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act or to Article 49(1) of its Enforcement Decree, or a later decision on the review the valuation deliberation committee must carry out under Article 49-2(1) of the Decree, would require this entry to be read again. A dispute in which the tax office rests its assessment on a similar property's transaction price would raise a different question from the one decided here.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
8 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-24
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on all 8 axes.
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Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Seoul High Court, in its judgment of 26 September 2025 (2024Nu70113), held that the dispositions at issue were lawful. It rejected the plaintiffs' arguments that the proviso to Article 49(1) of the former Enforcement Decree infringed the freedom of the parties to rescind a gift agreement protected by Article 4(4) of the former Act, and that it departed from the limits of delegated legislation.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court found no error. Reading the appellate reasons against Article 60 of the former Act and Article 49(1) of the former Enforcement Decree, it held that the court below had neither misunderstood the law on the limits of delegated legislation nor left anything unexamined. It also rejected the second ground of appeal, because the dispositions at issue rested on the appraised value itself rather than on the transaction price of the similar house, so the argument built on a different premise could not succeed.
Distinguishing conditions
- A sale or appraisal falling within the valuation period itself, which the items of Article 49(1) govern directly without the proviso.
- An inclusion outside the valuation period without an application to the valuation deliberation committee and its review, since the proviso sets out those conditions.
- A disposition founded on the transaction price of a similar property rather than the appraised value of the property itself, which the second ground of appeal concerned.
Record verification notes
First confirm which version governs: the Act as it stood before the amendment by Law No. 19563 of 18 July 2023, and the Decree before the amendment by Presidential Decree No. 33278 of 28 February 2023. Then set out the valuation date, the valuation period, the date of each sale or appraisal relied on, and whether an application was made and the committee reviewed it. Finally check what the disposition was actually based on, since this decision does not decide a disposition resting on a similar property's transaction price.
From the official text
Points at issue
‘재산의 평가’의 의미 / 구 상속세 및 증여세법 제60조 제2항에서 시가로 인정될 수 있는 대략적인 기준을 제시하면서 구체적인 범위를 대통령령으로 정하도록 위임한 취지 / 구 상속세 및 증여세법 시행령 제49조 제1항 단서가 모법인 구 상속세 및 증여세법 제60조 제1항 및 제2항의 위임범위를 벗어난 무효의 규정인지 여부(소극)
Unofficial English translation
The meaning of 'valuation of property' / The purport of Article 60(2) of the former Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act, which, while presenting rough standards for the market value that may be recognized, delegated the specific scope to Presidential Decree / Whether the proviso to Article 49(1) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act is a null and void provision exceeding the scope of delegation under Articles 60(1) and (2) of the former Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act as the parent act (negative)
Summary of the holding
재산의 평가란 특정 시점을 기준으로 재산이 갖는 가치를 화폐 단위로 환산하여 산정하는 것을 말한다. 구 상속세 및 증여세법(2023. 7. 18. 법률 제19563호로 개정되기 전의 것, 이하 ‘구 상증세법’이라 한다) 제60조는 제1항에서 상속세 및 증여세가 부과되는 재산의 가액은 평가기준일 현재의 ‘시가’에 의하여야 한다는 이른바 ‘시가주의’ 원칙을 선언하고 있고, 제2항에서는 여기서의 시가가 불특정 다수인 사이에 자유롭게 거래가 이루어지는 경우에 통상 성립된다고 인정되는 객관적 교환가격을 의미함을 전제로 시가로 인정될 수 있는 대략적인 기준을 제시하면서, 그 구체적인 범위를 대통령령으로 정하도록 위임하고 있다. 이는 입법자가 시가주의에 근접한 평가방법을 선택할 수 있는 입법재량 내에서 사회·경제 현실의 변화에 기민하게 대응하면서도 상속세나 증여세가 부과되는 재산의 가액인 ‘시가’를 공정하게 산정하기 위한 취지로서, 그 위임에 따라 구 상속세 및 증여세법 시행령(2023. 2. 28. 대통령령 제33278호로 개정되기 전의 것, 이하 ‘구 상증세법 시행령’이라 한다) 제49조 제1항 각 호는 과세대상에 대한 평가의 원칙과 기준을 구체적으로 정하고 있다. 나아가 구 상증세법 시행령 제49조 제1항 각 호는 상속 또는 증여재산의 시가로 볼 수 있는 대표적인 경우를 예시한 것에 불과하다. 구 상증세법 시행령 제49조 제1항 단서는 객관적 교환가치에 부합하도록 상속 또는 증여재산의 가액을 산정하기 위해 ‘평가기간에 해당하지 않는 기간’ 중에 속한 매매 등의 가액일지라도 이를 상속 또는 증여재산의 시가로 볼 수 있는 요건을 별도로 구체화·명확화하고 있는바, 이 역시 모법인 구 상증세법 제60조 제1항 및 제2항의 위임범위를 벗어난 무효의 규정이라고 볼 수 없다.
Order
상고를 모두 기각한다. 상고비용은 원고들이 부담한다.
Unofficial English translation
All appeals are dismissed. The appeal costs shall be borne by the plaintiffs.
Provisions referred to
헌법 제75조, 구 상속세 및 증여세법(2023. 7. 18. 법률 제19563호로 개정되기 전의 것) 제60조, 구 상속세 및 증여세법 시행령(2023. 2. 28. 대통령령 제33278호로 개정되기 전의 것) 제49조 제1항
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