Study On Tax Refunds In The Revocation Of Civil Legal Relations

When the civil legal relationship affecting the object of taxation is extinguished due to revocation,the question of whether the taxpayer can exercise the right to claim the refund of the overpaid tax and request the taxing authority to refund the paid tax is not only related to the substantive rights and interests of the taxing authority and the taxpayer,but also to the adjustment and improvement of the modern fiscal system,and is of great significance to the governance system of the whole country.After the revocation of the civil legal relationship,the tax element has disappeared and the taxing authority has subsequently lost the legal basis for tax collection;accordingly,the taxpayer certainly has the right to claim for the return of the overpaid tax.Whether from the principle of substantive taxation,the principle of statutory taxation,the public law system of unjust enrichment,or the theory of tax debt relationship,the taxpayer’s right to tax refund is irrefutably justified and necessary.However,against the background of the continuous erosion of taxpayers’ rights by "treasury-centrism",China’s tax law system has placed more emphasis on the protection of the state’s right to taxation,highlighting the taxpayers’ obligations rather than their rights in tax legal relations.In judicial practice,there are vastly different judgments and reasons,which can be traced back to the gaps in the current legislation: on the one hand,only principles are available in the taxation procedure law,and the absence of rules will inevitably greatly increase the difficulty of applying the law;on the other hand,most of the provisions on this issue in the substantive taxation law are in a blank state,and the few laws that have specific provisions on this issue also have problems of convergence with the Taxation Collection and Administration Law.On the other hand,most of the provisions on this issue in the substantive tax laws are in a blank state,and the few laws that have specific provisions on this issue also have problems of convergence with the Tax Collection Law.The tax law systems of Germany,Japan,the United States and Chinese Taiwan have more detailed and comprehensive provisions on the right to tax refunds,with their own styles and characteristics in terms of the reasons for tax refunds,applicable circumstances,content of tax refunds and protection of rights.Specifically,we should start from the following points: firstly,we should adjust the internal logic of tax refunds in the revocation of civil legal relations,adopt the tax debt theory instead of the power relationship theory to determine the nature of tax legal relations,and provide equal protection to the state’s right to tax collection and the taxpayers’ property rights as far as possible;secondly,while further refining the reasons for tax refunds,Article 51 of the Tax Collection and Administration Law should also change the circumstances under which tax refunds are applicable from the "discovery system" to the "tax refund system".Secondly,Article 51 of the Taxation Law should further refine the reasons for tax refunds,and at the same time,change the circumstances under which tax refunds are applicable from a "discovery system" to a "liability system",in order to meet the requirements of the principle of tax fairness.Lastly,while keeping the existing limitation period for tax refunds unchanged,the starting point of the limitation period should be adjusted from the date of tax payment to the time when the revocation takes effect,so as to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of taxpayers.