事業繼承稅制與中小企業傳承之稅制障礙－－借鏡日本事業繼承稅制之設計

Tax Barriers to Inheritance Tax Scheme and the Succession in Small and Medium Enterprise: An Observation on Japan's Approach

日本法自1983年以來即因考量到中小企業事業繼承所能達成之政策目的——「活化地區經濟與人員僱用之確保」，因此在不同的經濟背景下，提出能掃除中小企業事業繼承障礙之租稅特別措施。即便中小企業在臺灣與日本之產業結構中皆占有相當重要之影響力，但臺灣在遺產及贈與稅法的施行過程中（無論是在以前採取累進稅率之時期，或現今採取單一稅率之時期），並未正視過事業繼承所能發揮之功能，亦即忽略事業繼承所可能達成之政策目的。事實上，在遺產及贈與稅法中並未缺乏為實現一定政策目的採取租稅特別措施（租稅優惠），例如：為鼓勵農地農用之目的，若繼承人於繼承後5年內繼續作農業使用者免徵遺產稅（該法第17條第1項第6款），只是事業繼承下之繼承與一般繼承是否應於稅制設計上有所區別，甚至是以遺產稅或贈與稅之減免達成一定之公共目的，在臺灣則是未見討論。人口老化所造成之企業接班不順遂將導致一連串之困境，若能參考其他國家以稅制設計配合金融措施之支援，讓有技術能力得以繼續經營的企業能夠順利接班，豈不是臺灣稅制設計所應注意之課題！

Since 1983, Japan has noticed that the inheritance in small and medium enterprise can activate district economy and ensure personnel employment; therefore, it ushered in a special tax scheme to eliminate barriers to the inheritance in small and medium enterprise under different economy backgrounds. Small and medium enterprises play important roles both in Taiwan and Japans industry structures; however, no matter in times of progressive tax rate or flat tax rate, Taiwan has failed to properly emphasize the function of enterprise inheritance during the implementation of Estate and Gift Tax Act. In fact, there indeed exists a special tax scheme (tax preference) in estate and gift tax regulations. For example, the Article 17, section 1, item 6 in the Estate and Gift Tax Act encourages agricultures by exempting estate tax if the heir continues farming for 5 years from the date of inheritance. However, discussions are rare about whether to establish different schemes for enterprise and general inheritances, or utilize the deduction of estate or gift tax to serve public purposes. Instable enterprise succession caused by aging population will lead to a series of problems. If we could refer to other countries approach, which covers well-designed tax scheme and financial supports, we may benefit enterprise succession for those sustainable corporations. It is absolutely an attention-worthy issue for Taiwans tax policy!