All appeals are dismissed.

The costs of appeal are assessed against the defendant.

The grounds of appeal are examined (to the extent of supplement in case of supplemental appellate briefs not timely filed).

1. Article 4 of the Agreement between the Republic of Korea and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital (hereinafter “Korea- Germany Tax Treaty”) provides that “A resident of a Contracting State” for the purposes of this Agreement shall mean a person liable to pay taxes in that State according to the law of that State according to the address, domicile, location of the head office or principal office, or any other similar criteria.”

In addition, Article 10(2)(a) of the Korea-U.S. Tax Treaty provides that if the recipient is a beneficial owner who is a resident of the other country and directly owns 25% or more of the shares of the corporation paying the dividends, the taxation of the source country on the dividends shall not exceed 5% of the total amount of dividends.

Accordingly, if Korean corporation pays dividends to its shareholders who are beneficial owners as residents of Germany, it is limited to the tax rate of 5%, notwithstanding the provisions of the Corporate Tax Act, if the conditions of the above shares are met.

In full view of the history of the introduction of the provisions of the above Convention, the context thereof, etc., the beneficial owner means the case where the recipient of the dividend has no legal or contractual obligation to transfer the dividend to another person.

Determination as to whether a person is a beneficial owner should be made by comprehensively taking into account all the circumstances, such as the content and status of business activities related to the pertinent income, the actual use and details of operation

(See Supreme Court Decision 2018Du38376 Decided November 29, 2018). 2. Reviewing the reasoning of the lower judgment and the record reveals the following facts.

Plaintiff

B IMN BmbH, hereinafter referred to as “Plaintiffs.”