[Seoul District News] Jungnang-gu operates infant developmental delay support projects and pilot projects reducing teacher-to-child ratios in 0-year-old classes... Yongsan-gu accepts year-round applications for 2 billion KRW (former job fund) loans at 0.8% interest, 1-year grace, 4-year equal installment repayment until funds are exhausted... Songpa-gu provides 1 million KRW to tenant small business owners... Geumcheon-gu expands child allowance eligibility from under 7 to under 8 years old... Gangnam-gu supported residents, small businesses, and corporations with 39.759 billion KRW in tax benefits including payment deadline extensions last year... Yang
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jungnang-gu (Mayor Ryu Gyeong-gi) has allocated a total budget of 92.3 billion KRW this year to improve childcare services, expanding support projects for the health and comfortable environment of infants and toddlers in daycare centers.
First, starting this year, a new project to support infants and toddlers with developmental delays will be launched. This project helps borderline developmental delay infants and toddlers receive early diagnosis and treatment. It also operates a child abuse prevention project linked with local community centers to block child abuse and ensure safe child-rearing, supports play activities for vulnerable infants and toddlers, and runs a pilot project to reduce the teacher-to-child ratio in 0-year-old classes from 1:3 to 1:2.
Additionally, various daycare support projects through the Childcare Comprehensive Support Center have been expanded. These include a therapy support project where therapists visit integrated daycare centers for children with disabilities to provide direct treatment, expansion of dispatched personnel who can substitute for daycare teachers and cooks during absences, and healing training for excellent childcare staff who have endured hardships in childcare sites due to COVID-19.
In particular, due to the recent decrease in the number of infants and toddlers caused by low birth rates, support for facility environment improvement, cooks' wages, childcare staff treatment improvement fees, and infant and toddler meal expenses will be promoted for all daycare centers, including private and home daycare centers facing operational difficulties.
Ryu Gyeong-gi, Mayor of Jungnang-gu, said, “Through the expansion of childcare services, we hope parents can reduce their childcare burdens and children can grow up healthy in a comfortable and safe environment. We will continue to do our best to create a community that is good for having and raising children.”
Yongsan-gu (Mayor Seong Chang-hyun) will use the district job fund to support loans for youth enterprises in 2022.
The loan scale is 2 billion KRW with an annual interest rate of 0.8%. Loans up to 100 million KRW (50 million KRW for small business owners) can be borrowed under conditions of a 1-year grace period and 4 years of equal installment repayment. The funds can be used for business stabilization funds, facility funds, and rental deposits.
Eligible borrowers are youths aged 39 or younger who have been residing in Yongsan for at least one year as of the loan application date and are operating businesses within the district (small and medium enterprises, small business owners). Businesses such as general entertainment restaurants, dance entertainment restaurants, and other gambling facility management and operation businesses are excluded.
Those who wish to apply should visit the Shinhan Bank Yongsan-gu Office branch with the job fund loan application form, business plan, resident registration abstract, financial statements or VAT taxable standard confirmation, etc.
Related forms are posted on the district website under ‘District News (Yongsan-gu Job Fund)’.
The district holds a fund operation review committee around the 20th of each month to select loan recipients. Preliminary review items include whether the applicant is a small or medium enterprise or small business owner, whether they are a disabled or women-owned business, promising SMEs, venture companies, and whether they hold industrial property rights.
Loans will be made around the 30th of next month.
The district established and operated the job fund ordinance in 2018 to secure resources. As of 2022, the fund size reaches 11 billion KRW. Over the past three years, 74 loans totaling 2.691 billion KRW have been made, of which 449.68 million KRW has been repaid.
Besides loan support, the district has continued public-private cooperative job creation contest projects using the job fund. Since 2019, operating employment courses suitable for local characteristics and residents’ needs, 274 residents completed the courses and 166 of them succeeded in employment.
Seong Chang-hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “The district will take the lead so that young people who want to start a business or find a job can enter society without fear. We hope many young people struggling due to COVID-19 will show interest and apply.”
Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) will provide 1 million KRW ‘Small Business Keeper Fund’ to tenant small business owners who suffered business damage due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligibility requires the business location on the business registration certificate to be in Seoul, the business to have opened before December 31, 2021, and to be currently operating as a tenant or store. Annual sales in 2020 or 2021 must be under 200 million KRW.
Businesses that are effectively closed, entertainment establishments, gambling, leisure, speculation, and other small business policy fund loan exclusion industries cannot apply. Also, those receiving 2022 public property rent reduction, special employment or freelancer support funds, or tourism industry crisis recovery funds cannot receive duplicate benefits.
The district will disburse support funds to applicants within the region, expecting about 32,700 small business owners in Songpa-gu to benefit from this project.
Applications can be made online via the Seoul Keeper Fund from February 7 to March 6, 2022. For applicants who have difficulty using online services, on-site applications will be accepted from February 28 to March 4, 10 AM to 5 PM, at the 6th floor gymnasium of Songpa-gu Office. Objections can be filed from March 7 to March 13.
For inquiries, contact Songpa-gu Office Regional Economy Division or Songpa-gu Small Business Comprehensive Support Center.
Mayor Park Seong-su said, “I feel endless gratitude and heavy responsibility to small business owners who sacrificed for the health of residents and safety of the region. We will do our utmost to be a pillar for small business owners by issuing Songpa Love Gift Certificates, providing Songpa-type disaster relief funds, and expanding policies to revitalize neighborhood commercial districts to ease business difficulties.”
Songpa-gu has issued Songpa Love Gift Certificates worth 109 billion KRW since 2020 to support local commercial district revitalization, enacted the ‘Neighborhood Shopping District Designation Ordinance’ in September 2021 to expand policies so that general small business establishments can receive support equivalent to traditional markets, and established the ‘Small Business Comprehensive Support Center’ in October 2020, where ‘Hope Planners’ visit businesses for consultations and implement multifaceted support policies.
Also, to resolve the livelihood crisis caused by COVID-19, the district provides Songpa-type disaster relief funds totaling 2.5 billion KRW to seven target groups in four major areas including closed small businesses, local care facilities, religious facilities, and unemployed youth.
Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Seong-hoon) announced that, following the amendment of the Child Allowance Act, the age for child allowance payment will be expanded from under 7 years old to under 8 years old starting April this year.
The child allowance system provides 100,000 KRW monthly to children regardless of income or property to reduce the economic burden of child-rearing and promote children’s basic rights and welfare.
The eligible children are those born after February 1, 2014, and the allowance is paid until the month before the child’s 8th birthday.
Geumcheon-gu will retroactively pay the allowance in April to children who stopped receiving it upon turning 7 (children born between February 2014 and March 2015) without a separate application. However, if the guardian or account number has changed, changes must be made at the child’s resident community center during the prior application period from February 9 to March 31.
Meanwhile, children born between February 2014 and March 2015 who have no history of receiving child allowance must apply within the prior application period to receive retroactive payments from January to March 2022. New applications can be made at the community center, Bokjiro, or the Government24 website.
Yoo Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “I hope the expansion of the child allowance payment age will ease the childcare burden of guardians even a little. Residents who have not applied or need to update information among retroactive recipients should apply within the period to receive benefits.”
Gangnam-gu (Mayor Jung Soon-gyun) provided tax support benefits totaling 25,161 cases and 39.759 billion KRW, the largest scale among autonomous districts, last year for taxpayers and small delinquent taxpayers who suffered damage from COVID-19.
Previously, tax support was provided through complicated procedures upon taxpayers’ application, but as the number of taxpayers directly or indirectly affected by COVID-19 increased, it became possible to extend payment deadlines for tax items such as local income tax by the tax authority’s discretion.
Since 2020, Gangnam-gu has extended local income tax filing and payment deadlines for residents, small business owners, and corporations affected by COVID-19 either by taxpayer application or tax authority discretion, and applied collection, notification, and delinquency disposition deferrals and installment notifications for imposed tax items. It also helps small delinquent taxpayers struggling economically by clearing seizure data with no practical benefit, such as seized real estate or vehicles that have already been deregistered.
Last year, Gangnam-gu actively supported by releasing seizures on 1,044 cases of real estate and vehicles with no practical benefit and 1,338 deregistered seized vehicles of small delinquent taxpayers, and plans to investigate an additional 1,200 seizure data cases (worth about 19.2 billion KRW) this year.
Jung Soon-gyun, Mayor of Gangnam-gu, said, “Gangnam-gu’s tax support scale is 2 to 4 times that of other districts and has maintained the top position since April 2020. This year, we will provide tax benefits to as many residents, small business owners, and corporations as possible through non-face-to-face applications.”
Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) announced that it will support tenant small business owners suffering business difficulties due to the prolonged social distancing caused by COVID-19 with 1 million KRW ‘Small Business Keeper Fund’.
The district plans to support a total of 16.15 billion KRW, 1 million KRW per business site, expecting about 16,150 sites in the region to benefit.
Eligible recipients are tenant small business owners who opened before December 31, 2021, whose main business location on the business registration certificate is in Yangcheon-gu, and whose annual sales in 2020 or 2021 are under 200 million KRW. Businesses must currently be operating; those effectively closed, entertainment facilities, and loan-restricted industries are excluded.
The application period is until the 6th of next month, with online applications via the Seoul Keeper Fund site as the principle. The district plans to implement a 5-day rotation system based on the last digit of the business registration number until the 11th.
For tenant small business owners unable to apply online, on-site applications will be accepted from the 28th of this month to the 4th of next month at the 4th floor Job Plus Center in Haenuri Town.
Applications must be made by the eligible recipient in principle; if there are joint representatives, one representative may apply. The Keeper Fund will be paid within 10 working days from the application date, and a payment completion notification will be sent via the application system.
For detailed inquiries about Yangcheon-gu tenant small business owner Keeper Fund applications, contact the Dasan Call Center or the district Job Economy Division.
Kim Soo-young, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, said, “I hope this tenant small business owner Keeper Fund will be a small help to local small business owners who feel even rent burdensome due to decreased sales.”
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