[2020 National Tax Statistics] Including 28 New Items, a Total of 538 National Tax Statistics Released

852,000 Earners Over 100 Million Won... 4.4% of Total
7.41 Million Daily Workers... Average Income 8.07 Million Won
4,810 with Financial Income Over 500 Million Won... 5.6% Increase YoY
592,000 Decided for Comprehensive Real Estate Tax... 27.7% Increase YoY
120,000 Increase in Housing Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Cases... 31.5% Increase YoY
888 Public Interest Corporations Over 50 Years Old... Education Projects Most Common

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The National Tax Service (NTS) has released a total of 538 national tax statistics items, including 28 new statistics.

On the 28th, the NTS announced that it published the "2020 National Tax Statistics Yearbook" to help the public better understand national tax administration and to support tax policy formulation and research.

By category, the statistics include 27 items on collection (tax revenue), 74 on corporate tax, 39 on income tax, 89 on value-added tax, 38 on withholding tax, 42 on capital gains tax, 34 on inheritance and gift tax, 14 on comprehensive real estate tax, and 84 on earned income tax credit, among others.

Key details show that the total number of workers who filed year-end tax settlements for the previous year was 19.17 million, with 852,000 earning over 100 million KRW annually, accounting for 4.4% of all workers. The average salary was 37.44 million KRW, a 2.7% increase compared to the previous year.

The comprehensive income tax base for 2019 was 195.9004 trillion KRW, up 9.3% from the previous year. The reported tax amount was 34.8933 trillion KRW, an increase of 9.9% compared to the previous year.

The number of individuals with financial income exceeding 500 million KRW was 4,810, a 5.6% increase from the previous year. The average income per person was approximately 2.9 billion KRW, up 4.4% from the previous year.

The number of capital asset transfers in 2018 was 992,000, a 4.6% decrease from the previous year. By asset type, rights related to real estate (-20.5%), houses (-18.3%), other buildings (-12.5%), and land (-7.2%) decreased. Only stocks increased by 91.7%.

The average transfer price of houses was 348 million KRW, with Seoul (738 million KRW), Gyeonggi (312 million KRW), and Daegu (299 million KRW) ranking highest.

The number of people subject to comprehensive real estate tax was 592,000, a 27.7% increase from the previous year. The determined tax amount was 3.0072 trillion KRW, up 60.2% compared to the previous year.

The number of people subject to the housing portion of the comprehensive real estate tax was 517,000, an increase of 124,000 from the previous year. Regionally, Seoul and Gyeonggi accounted for 79.7% of all taxpayers.

There were 888 public interest corporations operating public projects for over 50 years, with educational purposes being the most common. There were 470 educational corporations, 311 social welfare corporations, and 38 academic and scholarship corporations, in that order.

Earned income and child tax credits for 2018 were paid to 4.95 million households, totaling 5.0299 trillion KRW. Considering late applications, the payment amount is similar to that of 2018.

An NTS official stated, "We are striving to improve the national tax statistics service to be user-centered and provide useful information to the public. Next year, we plan to newly launch the 'National Tax Statistics Portal (tentatively named TASIS)' to offer a diverse and rich range of content and services such as a national tax statistics database (DB), user-customized statistics, and visualization. We will also build a national tax statistics system with enhanced statistical analysis and management functions to provide the best user-centered statistical services."

The NTS pre-released 181 national tax statistics items in July and November before the official publication to allow users to utilize the statistics in advance. Additionally, it produced and posted online the "National Tax Statistics Guide," which includes basic concepts and frequently asked questions for easier understanding.