A delivery worker is performing delivery duties near Gangnam Station in Seoul. The photo is unrelated to the article's content. /Courtesy of News1

The tax refunded to providers of personal services, such as delivery riders, has steadily increased over the past three years since 2021. Personal services are classified as individual businesses under tax law rather than workers, like delivery riders or substitute drivers, who are special employment workers. A combined income tax rate of 3% and local income tax of 0.3% results in a total withholding tax of 3.3% of income.

According to data submitted by lawmaker Han Jung-ae of the Democratic Party of Korea to the National Tax Service on the 26th, 2.7 million providers of personal services received tax refunds in 2021. The total amount refunded was 636.9 billion won, averaging about 2.36 billion won per 10,000 individuals.

By year, in 2022, 3.36 million personal service providers received tax refunds totaling 812.8 billion won, which equates to 2.42 billion won per 10,000 individuals. In 2023, 3.78 million personal service providers received tax refunds amounting to 1.0362 trillion won, averaging 2.74 billion won per 10,000 individuals.

Lawmaker Han noted that "providers of personal services are more vulnerable to external factors, such as economic downturns, and it is necessary to devise a plan to rationally collect taxes by lowering the withholding tax rate to increase disposable income, even slightly."