About 1.47 million people providing personal services, such as delivery riders and substitute drivers, will receive 198.5 billion won in income tax refunds.
On the 10th, the National Tax Service held an on-site communication meeting titled "A field communication meeting to resolve tax difficulties for 4 million personal service income earners" and said that for small-scale taxpayers, the National Tax Service will proactively notify them of their income tax refunds without fees.
The target for this refund notification totals 1.47 million people, combining taxpayers who have not yet claimed their refunds and 290,000 personal service income earners who became newly eligible this year. The refund amount is 198.5 billion won.
The meeting was attended by the National Delivery Riders Association, the Korea Substitute Drivers Association, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions Platform Delivery Branch, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Riders Union Branch, and the Korea Platform Freelancer Workers Mutual Aid Association, among others.
Personal service income earners like the above often receive income tax refunds because the 3.3% withholding tax is usually higher than their actual tax liability. The National Tax Service introduced a new ARS refund application system to allow applications through various methods.
It also set up a dedicated refund-application hotline and plans to immediately reflect inconveniences encountered during the refund process in the service. Refunds applied for by the 20th will be paid by the 3rd of next month, when the Chuseok holiday begins.
At the meeting, organizations representing personal service income earners also proposed improvements to the complex comprehensive income tax filing and refund procedures for small-scale personal service income earners who find it difficult to obtain help from tax agents.
National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Gwang-hyeon said, "We will review a reasonable withholding tax rate," adding, "We will make sure to take care of taxpayer convenience to the end by improving the system so that the National Tax Service handles small-scale taxpayers' comprehensive income tax filings and refunds on their behalf."