National Tax Service Conducts 'Record Low' Tax Audits... Automatic Application for Senior Citizen Incentives

Announcement of National Tax Administration Operation Plan at the Meeting of Heads of Tax Offices Nationwide
Tax Investigations Reduced to 13,600 Cases This Year
'Future Growth Tax Support Center' Established in All Offices

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The National Tax Service (NTS) will minimize the number of tax audits this year to support overcoming the economic crisis. It will establish a 'Future Growth Tax Support Center' in all offices to strengthen tax support for export promotion and economic revitalization, and for the first time, introduce an automatic incentive application system for seniors aged 65 and over and people with severe disabilities.

On the 2nd, the NTS held a nationwide tax office chiefs meeting and announced the 'National Tax Administration Operation Plan' and key tasks to be promoted.

First, considering the difficult economic conditions, the scale of tax audits will be further reduced to about 13,600 cases, down from the provisional 14,000 cases last year. The number of tax audits by the NTS has been decreasing annually from 16,008 cases in 2019 to 14,190 cases in 2020 and 14,454 cases in 2021.

The NTS explained, "We will expand the scale of simplified audits and apply the simplified audit timing selection system to all offices from the second half of this year to substantially reduce the tax audit burden on small and medium taxpayers."

However, the NTS plans to respond strictly to unfair tax evasion, offshore tax evasion, and tax evasion in areas closely related to people's livelihoods, and will conduct joint raids and information exchanges with local governments on high-value and habitual tax delinquents. Additionally, to enhance transparency of public interest corporations and establish a sound donation culture, the NTS will support sincere reporting and strengthen compliance checks for donation organizations.

Among tax support measures for the recovery of the livelihood economy, the establishment of the Future Growth Tax Support Center and the expansion and reorganization of the Income Support Bureau into the Welfare Tax Management Team stand out. The Future Growth Tax Support Center will be established at the headquarters, seven regional offices, and 133 tax offices. The Welfare Tax Management Team is an organization that supports building a welfare safety net, including the introduction of automatic incentive applications and expansion of real-time income monitoring infrastructure. To promote exports and investment of small and medium-sized venture companies, improvements will also be made to tax consulting for business succession, corporate tax credits and exemptions consulting, and the prior review system for research and development (R&D) tax credits.

The NTS plans to hold monthly tax revenue status review meetings chaired by the deputy commissioner to check tax revenue management plans. Of the expected national tax revenue of 400.5 trillion won this year, the NTS's jurisdictional revenue budget is 388.1 trillion won, an increase of 3 trillion won (0.8%) compared to the previous year. By tax type, income tax is 131.9 trillion won, corporate tax 105 trillion won, and value-added tax 83.2 trillion won.

Internally, the NTS will strive to build a practical organizational culture by realizing a 'paperless tax office' and imposing a prior notice obligation on all tasks issued from the headquarters to tax offices. The newly established Personnel Planning Division will reorganize the personnel management system.

Also, to realize 'taxpayer services where everything is possible digitally,' the NTS will build an intelligent Hometax system and expand the Tax Secretary service. The Information Reporting Office, newly established in December last year, plans to establish a prevention-centered security management system to prevent security incidents caused by hacking in advance.

Kim Chang-gi, Commissioner of the NTS, emphasized, "The possibility of a global economic recession this year is higher than ever, and concerns about the slowdown of our real economy due to this are increasing, making the NTS's role in stable procurement of tax revenue even more important."

He also urged continuous expansion of easy and convenient taxpayer services such as building an intelligent Hometax system, expanding the use of the Tax Secretary service, and customized filing assistance services to support sincere taxpayers.

Commissioner Kim added, "To actively support export promotion and economic revitalization, please establish a support system for export small and medium enterprises and new industry sector companies, and prepare measures to promote investment. We will reduce the overall scale of tax audits compared to last year to help companies focus on their business activities."