计算机软件著作权交易课税性质判定及其法律意义

Taxable nature about transaction of computer software copyright

计算机软件跨境交易产生的收入一般被认为是特许权使用费收入,各国参考OECD税收协定范本的第12条签订税收协定,对软件特许权使用费征税。但是,国际贸易实践中对此费用性质的认定存在诸多争议。根据支付费用的不同目的,软件交易费用有时也符合营业收入的构成要件,适用OECD税收协定范本的第7条。因特许权使用费和营业收入的计税基础不同,如果不能解决费用性质认定的问题,就有可能引发滥用税收协定的避税问题。因此,以立法目的为出发点,考量国际贸易领域的利益关系,对软件著作权费用征税性质作出更加明确的合理界定,能够在保护本国税权与促进软件产业发展之间实现最佳平衡。

Income generated through computer software cross-border transactions is generally considered as royalties, and software royalties are taxed in most countries according to Article 12 of OECD Model Tax Convention.However, there are still series of controversy about how to identify the nature of the income in international trade.There are different purposes on different computer software cross-border transactions, and sometimes the income come from software transaction is also identified as business income and applicable Article 7 of the OECD Model Tax Convention. Due to different tax base between royalties and business income, it will lead to abuse of tax treaties if the nature of this kind of income can not be identified. So the nature of the software copyright transactions income should be identified more explicitly and legitimately from the legislative purpose and interest in the field of international trade, thus it will achieve the best balance between the promotion of development of software industry and protection of the right of the tax.