Lee Jae-myung "Tax audit on disaster basic income and cash-discriminating companies from next month 2nd"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will begin a five-year local income tax audit from June 2 on 15 businesses in the province that were caught discriminating between disaster basic income (local currency cards, etc.) and cash.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung announced on the 21st through a Facebook post titled "Tax Audit on Businesses Discriminating Between Disaster Basic Income and Cash," stating, "As previously mentioned, we will start a five-year local income tax audit from June 2 on 15 businesses caught discriminating between disaster basic income (local currency cards, etc.) and cash."

The governor explained, "If discrimination occurs during transactions involving various cards (credit cards, local currency cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, etc.) under the pretext of VAT fee discounts or other reasons, criminal penalties (up to one year imprisonment) will apply, credit card merchant qualifications and disaster income handling qualifications will be revoked, and it will be grounds for a tax audit."

He added, "Criminal charges and cancellation of credit card and local currency memberships for the 15 businesses already confirmed have been implemented immediately," and "the tax audit will begin on June 2 due to preparation."

Earlier, on the 7th, Governor Lee posted on Facebook titled "15 Cases of Local Currency Discrimination Confirmed... All Reported, Memberships Cancelled, Tax Audit Initiated," stating, "Twenty members of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police simultaneously conducted mystery shopping (posing as customers) and identified 15 businesses discriminating against local currency compared to cash in just one day."

As a result of direct visits and investigations by the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police to reported stores in Suwon, Yongin, and Hwaseong, nine businesses were found to charge an additional 10% under the name of VAT when payment was made using disaster basic income via credit card, unlike cash payments. Six businesses were found to demand a premium of 5-10% under the pretext of fees or charge higher prices for the same items when payment was made with local currency cards.

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