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REITs are indirect real estate investment products that collect funds from investors, invest them in real estate-related securities, and return the profits to investors. In the case of domestically listed REITs, if dividendable profits are generated, more than 90% must be paid as dividends. Through this, corporate tax is exempted. The government has made great efforts to expand the size of the public REITs and public real estate fund markets. Nevertheless, REIT investment is less active in some areas than major overseas countries. Recently, under the Corporate Tax Act, the principle is not to include valuation gains and losses in the tax base. However, arguments have raised that an exception should be recognized for REIT valuation losses. This is because undistributed profits due to valuation losses of REITs, which are indirect investment vehicles, are included in the taxable list, and corporate tax is paid, causing the double taxation problem for REIT investors. Considering this situation, this study examined the problems and improvement measures of the current REIT-related tax system for the growth of Korea's REIT market. In addition, we sought to derive implications for tax support for the REITs market through examples from significant countries. If we want to revitalize the REITs market more than currently, support from government policies is essential. Among them, tax support occupies the most important position. In order to dramatically grow the REITs market, it is necessary to provide bold tax benefits as in other countries. This study raised the need to improve Korea's current REIT tax system, as in the cases of the United States and Japan, and attempted to establish a taxation plan for the REIT tax system suitable for Korea's circumstances. One of the most urgent tasks in revitalizing REIT investment is to quickly resolve the conflicting issues between commercial law and corporate tax law to prevent double taxation of REITs. In addition, the tax support plan presented in this study is expected to minimize tax problems occurring in the REIT market and promote a reasonable taxation plan for the REIT market that is consistent with Korea. The policy alternatives in this study are expected to help use them as primary data when establishing policy alternatives for tax authorities or related ministries in the future.
Kim et al. (Sat,) studied this question.