Online Transactions Surge Due to COVID-19: Enhanced Safety with Business Verification and Status Inquiry Services

Provided by Ministry of the Interior and Safety and National Tax Service via OpenAPI method

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Online transactions, which surged due to COVID-19, will become safer and more convenient through the business registration information verification and status inquiry OpenAPI services based on public data.

On the 29th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Tax Service announced that they will provide business registration information verification and status inquiry services, which are the foundation of commerce, via OpenAPI. OpenAPI is a software method of providing data in a predetermined format, allowing users to process and use the data in any form they need at any time.

The service consists of two main parts: the business registration information verification OpenAPI service and the business registration status inquiry OpenAPI service. This is the first service where the National Tax Service provides public data through OpenAPI. Although online transactions surged due to COVID-19, there were many cases exploiting the inconvenience of verifying supplier information on online platforms.

From now on, by using the business registration information verification OpenAPI service, when entering business registration number, representative’s name, opening date, business name, main business type, and main item, users will be able to verify whether the information matches the latest data registered with the National Tax Service.

Additionally, through the business registration status OpenAPI service, it is possible to check the tax type and suspension or closure status information of multiple businesses in bulk at once. In particular, with the revised Value-Added Tax Act taking effect on the 1st of next month, which imposes a tax invoice issuance obligation on some simplified taxpayers, the need to verify tax types is increasing, and this service is expected to greatly assist in the enforcement of the law.

The business registration information verification and status inquiry OpenAPI services are available after signing up and applying for use on the Public Data Portal, and the business registration information is synchronized with the National Tax Service data to provide the latest information.

Jeon Hae-cheol, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, “With the launch of the business registration information verification and status inquiry OpenAPI services, the latest business registration information can be utilized by the private sector, and many services that make online transactions safer and more convenient are expected to be developed,” adding, “We will continue to provide public data in various ways that the private sector needs so that it can be usefully utilized.”