Seocho-gu Resolves New Corporation Issues with 'Local Tax 1:1 Mentoring'

Consultation Conducted After Submission of 'Mentoring Application Guide' Sent to Corporate Location... Two Consecutive Years of Progress, No Corporate Additional Tax Burden in 2020 Due to Continuous Guidance Through Mentoring

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Seocho-gu (Mayor Eunhee Jo) is conducting 'Local Tax 1:1 Mentoring' again this year for newly established corporations to listen to difficulties such as local tax reporting in the early stages of business and provide customized guidance services.

Local Tax 1:1 Mentoring is a system started to alleviate the difficulties of corporations who experienced delays in payment and incurred penalty taxes due to challenges in paying local taxes in the early stages of their business, upon receiving contact from corporate representatives.

The district sent mentoring application guides to 966 newly established corporations in the first quarter on April 16.

Last year, the district also sent guidance letters to 3,254 newly established corporations. As a result of continuous guidance provided to corporations that applied after receiving the mentoring application guide, there were no cases of penalty taxes incurred due to missed reporting and payment deadlines.

Additionally, corporations must report and pay the special withholding portion of local income tax by the 10th of each month. Guidance on electronic reporting and payment methods was provided to corporations that used to prepare manual payment slips and pay directly at banks, reducing the manual payment rate from 17.7% of total payments in 2019 to 10.5% in 2020.

For corporations, the convenience of reporting and payment was improved, and for administrative agencies, the inconvenience of separately inputting manual payments into the computer network was eliminated, greatly reducing administrative workload waste.

Tax officials participate as mentors for newly established corporations in the region, providing information on monthly local tax reporting requirements, relief methods, electronic reporting and payment methods that must be known in the early stages of business, and listen to difficulties to help resolve them. Currently, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the program is operated in an untact manner (via phone, etc.).

To apply, fill out the 'Local Tax Guide for Corporate Establishment and New Corporation Local Tax Mentoring Service Application Guide' sent to the location of the newly established corporation and submit it by mail, fax, or email.

Seocho-gu’s proactive administration, which continuously provides mentoring to newly established corporations struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic to prevent disadvantages such as penalty taxes, is receiving positive responses from local corporations and is being benchmarked and adopted by other local governments such as Songpa-gu.

Seocho-gu Mayor Eunhee Jo said, “We will provide maximum tax support policies such as deadline extensions and collection deferrals for corporations affected by COVID-19, and continue to discover various administrative services to create ‘Seocho, a good place to do business.’”