Verklig innebörd - en tolkning av verkligheten. En utredning av innebörden och tillämpningen av "verklig innebörd" i ljuset av legalitetsprincipen.
(2022) LAGF03 20221Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Inom den svenska inkomstskatterätten används ibland civilrättsliga begrepp som utgångspunkt. Även om detta ofta kan ske problemfritt uppstår ibland frågan om en rättshandling på grund av omständigheterna i fallet ska beskattas enligt dess yttre form, eller om den i stället ska beskattas enligt sin verkliga innebörd. Domstolen har i vissa fall kommit att omkvalificera rättshandlingar vars innehåll man inte anser står i överensstämmelse med dess form och därmed fäst fokus vid den verkliga innebörden. Bedömningen av verklig innebörd har under många år utvecklats i svensk praxis och är ett viktigt verktyg för att förhindra skattekringgåenden.
Att omkvalificera rättshandlingar på detta sätt aktualiserar emellertid en del problem. Inom den... (More) - Inom den svenska inkomstskatterätten används ibland civilrättsliga begrepp som utgångspunkt. Även om detta ofta kan ske problemfritt uppstår ibland frågan om en rättshandling på grund av omständigheterna i fallet ska beskattas enligt dess yttre form, eller om den i stället ska beskattas enligt sin verkliga innebörd. Domstolen har i vissa fall kommit att omkvalificera rättshandlingar vars innehåll man inte anser står i överensstämmelse med dess form och därmed fäst fokus vid den verkliga innebörden. Bedömningen av verklig innebörd har under många år utvecklats i svensk praxis och är ett viktigt verktyg för att förhindra skattekringgåenden.
Att omkvalificera rättshandlingar på detta sätt aktualiserar emellertid en del problem. Inom den skatterättsliga litteraturen har diskussioner förts kring hur detta förhåller sig till den inte helt okontroversiella legalitetsprincipen. Detta är en av uppsatsens mest centrala frågor. Uppsatsen har till syfte att utreda och analysera hur verklig innebörd används i HFD:s praxis, men också hur den förhåller sig till legalitetsprincipen. I förhållande till legalitetsprincipen är den stora frågan om den tolkning HFD gör vid utredningen av verklig innebörd sker på faktum- eller regelsidan. I doktrinen finns det företrädare för båda dessa ståndpunkter.
Den enda frågan som uppkommer när verklig innebörd behandlas är inte hur den förhåller sig till legalitetsprincipen. Verklig innebörd, vilket är utvecklat i praxis, har även relativt oklara konturer. Därför behandlas vad verklig innebörd är och hur verklig innebörd tillämpas av HFD för att sedan kunna ställa denna praxis mot legalitetsprincipen.
HFD:s praxis visar att domstolen vidhåller en helhetssyn vid bedömningen om verklig innebörd och att det inte är enbart enstaka rättshandlingar som kan bli föremål för bedömningen om verklig innebörd. Att motiven bakom de företagna rättshandlingarna har varit att kringgå lagstiftning och om de är förutbestämda eller ej har ingen inverkan på bedömningen om verklig innebörd, men den säregenhet rättshandlingarna ofta får vid sådana motiv bidrar till att de kan komma att prövas mot bakgrund av verklig innebörd.
Analysen av utvald praxis kring verklig innebörd resulterar i ståndpunkten att bedömningen av verklig innebörd verkar på faktumsidan. Slutligen konstateras dock att stort ansvar ligger på rättstillämparen i fråga om den enskildes rättssäkerhet när det kommer till bedömningen av verklig innebörd. (Less) - Abstract
- Swedish tax law often utilizes concepts derived from civil law. The use of these concepts is in many cases without complications. However, occasionally, the question of how a specific transaction or other act of law should be qualified arises; should the act be legally qualified and taxed according to its form, or should it be legally qualified and taxed according to its “real meaning”. There are cases of legal precedence where, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court has requalified an act of law according to its “real meaning” rather than its form in line with civil law and then the taxation based on the “real meaning” of the relevant act of law.
The requalification described above is not without its problems. Swedish scholars have... (More) - Swedish tax law often utilizes concepts derived from civil law. The use of these concepts is in many cases without complications. However, occasionally, the question of how a specific transaction or other act of law should be qualified arises; should the act be legally qualified and taxed according to its form, or should it be legally qualified and taxed according to its “real meaning”. There are cases of legal precedence where, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court has requalified an act of law according to its “real meaning” rather than its form in line with civil law and then the taxation based on the “real meaning” of the relevant act of law.
The requalification described above is not without its problems. Swedish scholars have discussed whether requalification may be in conflict with the rule of law and principle of legality within tax law. It is this conflict, potential or not, that is the main focus of this essay. The purpose of the essay is not only to investigate and analyze how the Supreme Administrative Court implements the concept of “real meaning”, but also to come to a conclusion on how the concept relates to the principle of legality as applied in tax law. Notably, as regards the principle of legality, the pertinent question is whether the Court bases its assessment of the real meaning of the relevant act of law on the circumstances in the specific case or of the law. Scholars have positioned themselves on both sides in this matter and their respective views are presented in this essay.
In its assessments, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court considers, as the essay will show, all relevant circumstances and does not limit itself to only one aspect of a specific act of law. For example, the Court does not consider the fact that an act of law was undertaken with the intent to circumvent tax law as sufficient for requalification, unless the characteristics of the relevant act in itself warrant requalification, which it typically will as intent of circumvent often leads to peculiar characteristics.
The conclusion of this essay is that the application of the concept of “real meaning” is not in conflict with the principle of legality, since the requalification is a result of an assessment of facts presented to the Court and not an interpretation of the law. As a final remark in the essay, it is underlined that the requalification involves application of a wide discretion by the Court which must be exercised in such a way that it does not drift into the realm of law interpretation to the detriment of the principle of rule of law and predictability. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9080897
- author
- Nelson, Elisabeth LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- skatterätt
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9080897
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-28 11:10:09
- date last changed
- 2022-06-28 11:10:09
@misc{9080897,
abstract = {{Swedish tax law often utilizes concepts derived from civil law. The use of these concepts is in many cases without complications. However, occasionally, the question of how a specific transaction or other act of law should be qualified arises; should the act be legally qualified and taxed according to its form, or should it be legally qualified and taxed according to its “real meaning”. There are cases of legal precedence where, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court has requalified an act of law according to its “real meaning” rather than its form in line with civil law and then the taxation based on the “real meaning” of the relevant act of law.
The requalification described above is not without its problems. Swedish scholars have discussed whether requalification may be in conflict with the rule of law and principle of legality within tax law. It is this conflict, potential or not, that is the main focus of this essay. The purpose of the essay is not only to investigate and analyze how the Supreme Administrative Court implements the concept of “real meaning”, but also to come to a conclusion on how the concept relates to the principle of legality as applied in tax law. Notably, as regards the principle of legality, the pertinent question is whether the Court bases its assessment of the real meaning of the relevant act of law on the circumstances in the specific case or of the law. Scholars have positioned themselves on both sides in this matter and their respective views are presented in this essay.
In its assessments, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court considers, as the essay will show, all relevant circumstances and does not limit itself to only one aspect of a specific act of law. For example, the Court does not consider the fact that an act of law was undertaken with the intent to circumvent tax law as sufficient for requalification, unless the characteristics of the relevant act in itself warrant requalification, which it typically will as intent of circumvent often leads to peculiar characteristics.
The conclusion of this essay is that the application of the concept of “real meaning” is not in conflict with the principle of legality, since the requalification is a result of an assessment of facts presented to the Court and not an interpretation of the law. As a final remark in the essay, it is underlined that the requalification involves application of a wide discretion by the Court which must be exercised in such a way that it does not drift into the realm of law interpretation to the detriment of the principle of rule of law and predictability.}},
author = {{Nelson, Elisabeth}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Verklig innebörd - en tolkning av verkligheten. En utredning av innebörden och tillämpningen av "verklig innebörd" i ljuset av legalitetsprincipen.}},
year = {{2022}},
}