Last year, national taxes fell more than 8 trillion won short of the main budget. However, they exceeded the revenue outlook revised through the supplementary budget for revenue adjustment in June by 1.8 trillion won. A revenue adjustment revises budget figures when tax receipts come in higher or lower than initially planned.
◇ "Corporate tax" drove last year's revenue results… income tax receipts rose on a boom in overseas stocks
The Ministry of Finance and Economy said on Feb. 10 in its "2025 annual national tax revenue status" report that last year's national tax revenue totaled 373.9 trillion won. That was up 37.4 trillion won from the previous year's 336.5 trillion won.
Compared with the main budget (382.4 trillion won), the take fell short by 8.5 trillion won. However, it came in 1.8 trillion won "above" the national tax revenue budget corrected through the supplementary budget (373.9 trillion won). Some said the supplementary budget helped avoid an official "tax revenue shortfall" record. The government had previously posted large tax revenue shortfalls in 2023 and 2024.
The main factor behind the shortfall versus the main budget was corporate tax. That was because corporations' results were weaker than expected. Corporate tax is levied based on corporations' results from the previous year. Corporate tax revenue was 84.6 trillion won, short of the main budget (88.3 trillion won), but slightly above the supplementary budget (83.6 trillion won).
By contrast, income tax receipts performed well. Income tax came in at 130.5 trillion won, 3.6 trillion won more than both the main and supplementary budgets (126.8 trillion won). A ministry official said, "Earned income tax increased as the number of employed people grew and wages rose, and capital gains tax increased thanks to a boom in overseas stocks."
Value-added taxes, on the other hand, fell 4.2 trillion won short even compared with the supplementary budget. A ministry official said this was "because refunds increased as exports rose."
◇ Only a little over 100 billion won in spare funds available for this year's supplementary budget
Combining such national tax revenue with non-tax revenue, the government's total revenue last year was tallied at 597.9 trillion won. Total revenue fell 2.1 trillion won short of the supplementary budget (600 trillion won). That was because non-tax revenue such as sales proceeds of government-owned properties and current transfer revenues underperformed expectations. A ministry official said, "The planned sale of NXC shares in Nexon (3.7 trillion won) was booked in the budget, but that fell through."
Total expenditures were 591 trillion won. The execution rate was 97.7% of the current budget amount (604.7 trillion won), which combines the budget and the prior year's carryover. Unused funds were 10 trillion won. The execution rate was the highest in the past five years, and unused funds were the lowest.
The consolidated surplus, excluding total expenditures and the carryover to be used in the following year (3.7 trillion won) from total revenue, was 3.2 trillion won. Excluding the consolidated surplus of special accounts (3.1 trillion won), whose uses are designated by law, the general consolidated surplus was 100 billion won. If a supplementary budget is drawn up this year, that means only 100 billion won would be left as spare funds available for use.