公益信託處理信託事務年度支出下限相關爭議評析

Analysis of the Issues on the Annual Minimum Distribution Requirements of Charitable Trust

"為了鼓勵企業與富人做公益，《所得稅法》和《遺產及贈與稅法》對公益信託給予稅捐優惠，並且在管理上也採低度管理。然而有些公益信託卻變相成為富人避稅的工具。尤其隨著《財團法人法》的立法管制趨嚴，根據審計部統計，公益信託成立數量在2016-2018年內暴增，2018年就增加近30個，總計達到236個；信託資產總額從2015年的908億元，2017年已突破1,121億元，成長逾23%；截至2019年，國內市值逾1300億元的267個公益信託亂象叢生，前10大公益信託的公益支出不到信託總資產的1%，由財政部的估算也可看出公益投入金額比例懸殊。主要原因是現行法規疏漏，而有「假公益、真避稅」之嫌。國內公益信託年度支出未設立下限的弊端已現，諸如公益信託成為傳承家族股權的工具、欠缺自我證言的財務報表、公益參與偏低且效率落差大或背離公益性。
法務部於2019年8月中旬提出《信託法》部分條文修正草案，針對上述法律疏漏予以填補，規定公益事務年度支出占年度總支出的最低比率不得低於50%，然而此規定是否周延有疑義，也與財政部有分級距的規定不同，而立法院各黨團也有不同的版本；如何訂定合理的支出下限，乃當前公益信託所需面對並解決的問題。本文整理分析國內外相關資料與見解並為評析後，提出公益信託公益事務年度支出占收入比例與占總資產比例的合理下限，以確保公益信託的公益性。"

"In order to encourage enterprises and the rich to perform charitable business, the government grants tax-free benefits to charitable trusts in the Income Tax Act and the Estate and Gift Tax Act. Due to loose regulation, the current charitable trusts have become a tool for the rich to avoid taxes. With the tightening of the amendments to the Foundations Act, statistics from the National Audit Office have shown that the number of charitable trusts has skyrocketed in 2016-2018 as it had increased by nearly 30 in 2018. It then reaches a total number of 236 and the total charitable trust assets increased from 230.9 billion Taiwan dollars in 2015 to 112.1 billion Taiwan dollars in 2017. Also, the total assets of the trust increased from 90.8 Taiwan dollars in 2015 to 112.1 billion Taiwan dollars in 2017, showing an increase of more than 23%.
Upon until 2019, 267 charitable trusts with a domestic market value of more than 130 billion Taiwan dollars have sprung up. The charity expenditures of the top 10 charitable trusts are less than 1/100 of the total assets of the trust, mainly due to the omission of current regulations. In other words, there are many disadvantages as the law did not set a minimum limit of annual expenditures on charitable trusts. Some disadvantages include charitable trusts becoming a tool to inherit family equity, financial statements lacking self-testimony, public welfare participation being low or the efficiency gap being large.
In mid-August 2019, the Ministry of Justice proposed amendments to some provisions of the Trust Act to make up for the omissions of the above regulations. It is stipulated that the minimum ratio of annual charitable expenditure to the total annual income shall not be less than 50%. However, the minimum limit of ’’expenditure/ income’’ ratio is different from the Ministry of Finance’s requirements for classification. As well, legislators of the Legislative Yuan have their own versions. Hence, how to set a reasonable minimum limit of expenditure is a challenge to be dealt with.
After collecting and analyzing relevant domestic and foreign literature and opinions, this article puts forward a reasonable minimum limit for the ratio of distribution to revenue and the ratio of distribution to total asset to ensure the charitable nature of charitable trusts."