De facto Acquisition Date in Case of Disputed Ownership in Real Estate Proceedings: Focused on Supreme Court’s Judgment of May 27, 2021, 2017DU56032

Tax law concerned is basically a relationship in which the state demands taxpayers a monetary benefit called tax. For this reason, the judicial principle works strongly. Judicial acts and transactions and the interpretation and application of tax laws are closely related. However, after the tax legal relations are established and finalized, the taxation agency's valuation right is reserved, especially in the finalization, so the taxation authority has the right to self-execute in order to secure the finalized tax claims. It grants privileges such as monitoring and supervision rights. In this respect, there is a debate to clarify the degree of intervention of judicial provisions in tax law relations. Actual tax law may use the same term but interpret and apply it with different standards from civil law. Typical examples are "acquisition" under the Local Tax Law and "acquisition" under the Civil Code. The issue on this subject is also based on this. The object of acquisition under the acquisition tax is the ownership of the taxable property. Therefore, in the judiciary, in order to become a property subject to acquisition tax, it is necessary to have requirements such as registration / registration and delivery, but the Local Tax Law that stipulates the taxation requirements for acquisition tax is based on Article 186 of the Civil Code. In addition to the acquisition of ownership, de facto acquisition is also included in the subject of acquisition tax. The "de facto acquisition" of real estate means that even if the real estate is not registered under the Civil Code, in the case of buying and selling, the purchaser can acquire the ownership and use and profit the real estate at any time after the payment of the price etc. is completed. Recently, the Supreme Court has decided whether or not the acquisition time will be effectively changed if the ownership is disputed in a real estate-related lawsuit. In conclusion, after the acquisition was virtually made by the Local Tax Law and the acquisition time came, I saw that the acquisition time would not be changed when the relevant proceeding was finalized just because a proceeding was filed to dispute the acquisition. Considering the purpose of introducing the concept of acquisition in the Local Tax Law, I think it is a valid judgment.