National Tax Service Completes First Term of Tax Reporting Committee... Corrected 65 Cases Over 2 Years, Securing 38% Rights Relief

Starting This Year, Committee Chair Directly Proposes Agenda... Promoting Improvement of Unreasonable Systems

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The National Tax Service (NTS) announced on the 21st that the terms of the first-term Taxpayer Protection Committee members will expire on the 31st of this month.

In addition to the Taxpayer Protection Officer, 15 private members appointed upon recommendation from external organizations have faithfully fulfilled their role as "guardians of taxpayers' rights" over the past two years since the establishment of the Taxpayer Protection Committee in April 2018, by providing substantial checks and supervision over overall national tax administration.

Among the requests for protection of rights related to tax investigations reviewed and decided by the local tax offices and tax office Taxpayer Protection Committees, 172 cases where taxpayers raised objections were re-examined, resulting in the suspension of 26 unlawful or unjust tax investigations such as duplicate investigations. Furthermore, 39 cases were corrected by reducing investigation period extensions or limiting the expansion of investigation scope, thereby providing relief in 65 cases, accounting for 38%.

Additionally, following the amendment of the Framework Act on National Taxes, from this year, the chairman of the NTS committee has been granted the "authority to propose agenda items" regarding improvements to national tax administration systems and procedures. Accordingly, the committee proposed and approved improvement agendas to clarify the "reasons for omission of prior notice of tax investigations" and to specify the "contents of gift tax investigation notices," recommending these to the relevant departments.

Moreover, to address blind spots in rights protection, continuous institutional improvements are being pursued, including adding "unreasonable on-site verifications" and "excessive document requests" beyond tax investigations to the committee's review scope.

An NTS official stated, "Going forward, together with the newly launched second-term National Tax Service Taxpayer Protection Committee, we will do our best to root the principles of 'checks and balances' and 'procedural control' throughout tax administration so that taxpayers' rights are more respected."

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