Nowon-gu Forms 'Tax Agent Group' to Assist Taxpayers with Objection Procedures Free of Charge

Recruiting 3 Agents Including Lawyers, Certified Public Accountants, and Tax Accountants... Eligible Applicants Include Taxpayers with Local Tax Objections Under 10 Million Won... Applications Submitted by Taxpayers When Filing Local Tax Appeals or Selecting Agents

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) is offering a free "Tax Agent System" to assist residents who dispute local tax payments.

The agent system is a program that supports low-income taxpayers who have objections to local taxes by providing free tax agents from the district office to assist with legal reviews, consultations, and supplementation of supporting documents during the dispute process.

Notably, it is the only basic local government to directly form a team of agents consisting of lawyers, certified public accountants, and tax accountants. In other local governments, when a taxpayer applies for an agent, a formal request must be sent to the metropolitan government to designate an agent, and the designation notification must be received through a procedure.

However, the district plans to recruit three agents with more than three years of relevant experience, such as lawyers, to directly select agents and provide faster services to local residents.

In other words, by eliminating the procedure of sending official letters to Seoul City and receiving designation notifications, the period for agent selection and designation is expected to be shortened. However, until the agent team is formed, the district will use Seoul City's agent POOL to minimize inconvenience to residents.

The support target is taxpayers with local tax dispute claims of 10 million KRW or less, whose comprehensive income including their spouse is 50 million KRW or less, and whose property value is 500 million KRW or less. However, high-amount habitual tax delinquents subject to travel bans and public disclosure lists, as well as tobacco consumption tax, local consumption tax, and leisure tax directly collected by the city, are not eligible for agent support.

Applications can be submitted by taxpayers by submitting a dispute application form and an agent selection application to the Tax Division 1 when they have objections to local taxes. The agent application deadline is until the expiration date for dispute claims and up to 10 days before the review and resolution date after the dispute claim.

The district reviews the taxpayer's income and property qualifications and notifies the designated agent within seven days from the date of receipt. If a taxpayer files a dispute claim under 10 million KRW without knowing about the agent system, the district will inform them about the agent application procedures.

The agent team will be formed through recruitment announcements, with a term of two years and the possibility of up to two renewals. Appointed agents will perform dispute-related tasks on behalf of taxpayers.

The introduction of agents aims to assist individual taxpayers, who unlike corporations, face challenges such as lack of expertise and financial resources, complicated procedures, and cost issues in local tax dispute processes.

The district is also providing tax support measures such as local tax deadline extensions, collection deferrals, and tax audit postponements to support taxpayers facing direct and indirect difficulties due to the spread of COVID-19.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, "We have directly formed a tax agent team for taxpayers who hesitated to file local tax disputes due to complicated procedures and costs," and added, "We plan to actively guide residents who were unaware of the dispute procedures themselves."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.