Gwangju City to Reduce Property Tax for 'Good Landlords'

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 30th that it has prepared a standard local tax reduction plan to reduce property tax on buildings with lowered rent to help small business owners struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis.

The reduction target includes buildings whose owners have reduced rent by 10% or more, or have agreed to reduce it, for at least three months including the property tax assessment date (June 1, 2020), to small business tenants.

This will be applied temporarily only to the property tax on buildings levied in July, and applications for reduction can be submitted to the tax department of the district office with jurisdiction over the building location from June 1 to June 30.

The property tax amount will be reduced from 10% to 50% in proportion to the rent reduction rate, and if the reduction period exceeds three months, an additional 5% per month will be added, allowing a maximum reduction of up to 1 million KRW.

For example, if the rent of 1 million KRW per month is reduced by 30% (300,000 KRW) for three months, the property tax on the reduced rent portion will be reduced by the same rate of 30%. However, businesses related to entertainment, gambling, or speculative industries are excluded.

Separately from the property tax reduction, the National Tax Service also provides a 50% tax credit on income tax and corporate tax for the rent reduction portion for small business tenants during the first half of the year (January to June), allowing benefits from both national and local taxes simultaneously.

For detailed information about the property tax reduction for benevolent landlords, inquiries can be made to the tax department of the district office with jurisdiction over the building location.

Earlier, on the 19th, Mayor Lee Yong-seop promised to reduce property tax on buildings of "benevolent landlords" who voluntarily reduce rent to share the difficulties of the local economy in the second regional economic protection and livelihood stabilization measures to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

Accordingly, Gwangju City established a "Local Tax Support Plan for COVID-19 Victims," sent the standard local tax reduction plan to the five autonomous districts, and requested active cooperation such as approval from district councils.

Lee Seung-chul, the city’s tax administration officer, said, "We thank the benevolent landlords who reduce rent and share the pain during these difficult times due to COVID-19," and added, "We hope this measure will help landlords and tenants coexist and empower small business owners to revive the local economy."

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