Applicants who were eliminated due to scoring errors in the 2021 tax accountant exam but belatedly passed filed a damages suit against the state, but the Supreme Court overturned the lower court, saying the illegality was not enough to recognize the state's responsibility.
The Supreme Court's Third Division (Presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) said on the 23rd that on the 30th it overturned the appeals court ruling ordering the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Korea) and the state to pay 37 million won each to 37 additional passers and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.
The Industrial Human Resources Corporation administers the tax accountant exam under commission from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The first round is multiple choice, and the second round is a written exam of four subjective subjects: Tax Law I and II, and Accounting I and II.
Applicants pass if their average score across all subjects is at least 60 points out of 100 and there is no failing grade (below 40). If the number of applicants is fewer than the minimum announced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, additional passers are selected in order of higher average scores.
Those who pass receive six months of on-the-job training from the Korean Association of Certified Public Tax Accountants and tax firms before working as tax accountants.
In the 58th second-round tax accountant exam in 2021, 706 out of 4,597 applicants passed. At the time, controversy over unfairness arose as 151 former tax officials passed. In particular, the failure rate for Tax Law I, from which tax officials are exempt, reached 82.1%, which was cited as the cause. The number of successful former tax officials was only 35 in 2019 and 17 in 2020.
A Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) audit later found that in some Tax Law I questions, scores differed by grader even with identical answers. A Board of Audit and Inspection audit confirmed that some scoring standards were arbitrarily changed in Tax Law II. The Industrial Human Resources Corporation regraded two questions and processed 75 additional passers.
Of the 75 additional passers, 37 said, "Had we passed normally, we could have worked as tax accountants a year earlier. Compensate for the income we could not earn during the delay (about 83 million won) and mental damages (about 17 million won)," and each claimed 100 million won.
In the first instance, the court said, "The corporation corrected the error and took relief measures as quickly as possible," and found it difficult to recognize the state's liability for damages, but the appeals court found a "breach of duty of care" and recognized 35 million won in property damage and 2 million won in consolation money, totaling 37 million won.
However, the Supreme Court said, "It is difficult to conclude that scoring errors in two questions lost objective legitimacy to the extent that government compensation liability is established," and noted that "the appeals court misunderstood the requirements for government compensation liability." It also said, "The Industrial Human Resources Corporation took relief measures such as regrading relatively quickly."