186 Billion KRW Refund to 140,000 Gig Workers Including Delivery Riders and Substitute Drivers

The National Tax Service (NTS) announced on the 4th that it has refunded a total of 18.6 billion KRW to 140,000 personal service income earners who had refund claims for comprehensive income tax this year but did not file for refunds.

In particular, this year, to eliminate the inconvenience of having to file refund claims for each of the past five years individually, the system was improved to allow easy filing of refund claims for five years with just one click.

According to the NTS, driver Kim received a refund filing notice from the NTS in August this year. After logging into Hometax, Kim, who had been busy with his livelihood, discovered an income tax refund of 1.44 million KRW that he had been unaware of for the past five years. Kim simply entered his bank account number and clicked 'Batch Filing' to complete the refund claim. A month later, Kim confirmed that 1.44 million KRW was deposited into his bank account.

An NTS official stated, "In recognition of the NTS’s efforts to return dormant refund amounts, the 'Finding Refunds for Personal Service Income Earners' was selected as one of the 'Top 5 Best Cases of Proactive Administration Chosen by the People,' organized by the Office for Government Policy Coordination." The official added, "Starting from the 4th, the NTS plans to send another refund filing notice to personal service income earners who misunderstood the August notice as spam or phishing and thus did not claim their refunds."

Taxpayers who receive the refund filing notice can view their annual income amounts and expected refund amounts for the past five years at once on Hometax or Sontax, and by simply entering the bank account number to receive the refund, they can complete the filing in one step. The NTS plans to issue refunds by the Lunar New Year holiday next year for claims filed by the end of December, and within three months from the filing date for claims filed after January next year.