应税事实认定的逻辑检视与路径构建——以应税事实争讼文本为分析基础

应税事实认定争议是税务争讼的主要类型之一。应税事实是经济、私法和公法的交汇地带,局限于税法内部思维的观察视角将难以识别引起应税事实争讼的根源。从800份税务诉讼判决书中甄别出312份应税事实认定争讼案例,选定关键词作出定性分析,可看到实务中应税事实认定存在从实体法到程序法层面的多重定性冲突与矛盾。针对应税事实认定逻辑的缺位与漏洞,应厘清个案事实认定的方法论,并以税收构成要件体系为基准,重申法律适用逻辑与司法说理制度在应税事实认定体系中的基础地位,矫正税务实践中存在的理论误区,确立应税事实的认定边界。

Disputes over taxable fact determination are one of the main types of tax litigation.The qualitative analysis,based on selected keywords,of 312 cases of dispute over taxable fact determination identified from 800 tax litigation judgments reveals multiple conflicts and contradictions in the determination of taxable facts at both the substantive law level and the procedural law level in practice.Firstly,in the specific operation of tax law,the independence boundary of tax law is often extended by the principle of substantive taxation.Although theories represented by substantive taxation focus on the use of fact determination,the tax composition elements system on which taxation depends inadvertently simplifies the steps of factual inference and proof.Secondly,both the anti-tax avoidance legislative system and the tax assessment legislative system in China adopt a two-element legislative structure of subjective intent and objective substance in which objective substance aims to determine whether taxable income has been reduced while subjective intent requires taxpayers to prove that they have“reasonable commercial purposes”or“legitimate reasons”.The legislation does not clearly define what constitute“reasonable commercial purposes”,and there is considerable flexibility in the determination of taxpayers’subjective intent.Finally,in the current application of tax law,disputes over factual relationships are often merged with qualitative behavior,affecting the understanding and grasp of objective facts for taxation.Fact relationships,represented by economic substance,often deviate to some extent from factual relationships themselves due to the qualitative shaping and characterization of tax law.Faced with the absence of and loopholes in taxable fact determination logic,it is necessary to establish a dynamic substantive system based on fact determination as the primary link in taxable fact determination.Firstly,distinctions between and identifications of factual elements should be made among the composition elements,and in tax disputes,emphasis should be placed on proving the factual elements that constitute the composition elements,and the determination of individual fact should not be replaced by typified legal facts.Secondly,in a situation where the legal and factual premises are determinable,it is necessary to further verify whether the logical proofs in the process of capturing taxable facts are unified and complete,and to examine the gap between the composition elements caused by qualitative logic jumps and case facts.Finally,judicial organs should examine the tax normative documents on which the tax law application relies,so as to ensure that the legal basis conforms to the substantive purposes of higher laws.At the same time,evidence and reasoning should be provided for the verification of the authenticity of the factual premises,facts that do not meet the evidentiary standards should be re-determined,and the completeness of the captured logic and deduction should be demonstrated and explained.Generally speaking,the basic positions of the legal application logic and the judicial reasoning system in the taxable fact determination system should be reaffirmed,so as to establish the determination boundary of taxable facts.