跨境软件交易所得的税法定性研究

Research on the Taxable characterization of Cross-border Software Transaction Income

软件的无形性和软件交易的复杂性使得对跨境软件交易所得准确定性成为一大难题,这主要表现在跨境软件交易所得究竟是构成营业利润,还是特许权使用费,抑或是财产收益。各国为了维护本国的税收利益,在该问题上持不同立场。软件输出国倾向于采用基于权利的方法,即根据受让人从软件交易合同中所获得的权利的性质对跨境软件交易所得进行定性,软件输入国则倾向于扩大特许权使用费条款的适用范围。考虑到税法与民法的关系、税收公平原则的要求以及我国的税收利益,建议我国采用基于权利的方法处理跨境软件交易所得的定性问题。为此,有必要对部分税收协定中特许权使用费条款的定义进行适当限缩,同时出台规范性文件对该问题加以明确。

The intangibility of software and the complexity of software transactions make it difficult to accurately characterize cross-border software transaction income,which is about whether the income from cross-border software transactions constitutes business profits,royalties,or capital gains.Different countries have different positions on this issue based on their own tax interests.Software-exporting countries tend to adopt a rights-based approach,i.e.the character of payments received in transactions involving the transfer of software depends on the nature of the rights that the transferee acquires under the software transaction contract,while software-importing countries expand the scope of the concept“royalties”.Considering the relationship between tax law and civil law as well as tax fairness principle,it is recommended that China should adopt a rights-based approach,which is also in line with China’s tax interests.Hence,it is necessary to appropriately restrict the definition of royalties in some tax treaties and promulgate normative documents to clarify this issue.