Normative Significance of Tax Procedural Law: Reconstruction of the Principle of Legality

Tax procedural law has an inherent normative significance in terms of realizing the substantive law of taxation; it should handle disputes based on differences in the recognition of each party regarding the existence or nonexistence of tax liabilities and their contents. The principle of legality requires a tax agency to determine and enforce tax claims that have been established based on the provision of substantive law when the requirements for taxation have been fulfilled, but does not prohibit the tax agency from suspending further investigation after sufficient examination in cases where it is unclear whether the requirements for taxation have actually been fulfilled. Although the principle of legality may hold a certain normative requirement with respect to the scope of sufficient examination by the tax agency, there may be a situation where the limits of the examination are defined from the perspective of tax enforcement efficiency. The administrative agency’s obligation is to reconcile the accuracy and efficiency of tax enforcement on the plane of procedural law; the same issue is involved in the admissibility of settlements related to tax claims.