Gyeonggi-do, 96 More Stores Caught for Discriminatory Transactions of Disaster Basic Income

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has additionally identified 96 stores that demanded extra charges or engaged in 'discriminatory transactions' against cash when payments were made using disaster basic income (local currency cards, etc.).

The province has decided to take strong measures against these stores, including canceling their card merchant registration, criminal prosecution, and tax audits.

According to the province's announcement on the 22nd, from the beginning of this month until the 20th, on-site inspections were conducted on 383 stores reported for discrimination such as charging fees when paying with disaster basic income cards, unlike cash payments. As a result, unfair practices were confirmed at 96 stores. Earlier this month, 15 stores engaging in unfair practices were identified in the first round.

The province believes these businesses tried to conceal sales by encouraging cash payments instead of disaster basic income card payments or sought to gain unfair profits by charging an additional 10% fee under the name of VAT or service charges.

Following the undercover investigation on the 7th that uncovered 15 stores, the province has filed criminal charges and canceled their card merchant registrations, and will begin tax audits starting from the 2nd of next month.

The province will apply the same measures to the additional 96 stores identified this time and will enforce strong actions without exception against any stores caught engaging in such unfair practices in the future.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung commented on Facebook regarding this matter, saying, "Disaster basic income is an emergency economic policy funded by residents' taxes to overcome the (COVID-19) crisis. How can we allow disappointment by having residents who deliberately visit local businesses and traditional markets to revive the local economy face law violations and tax evasion?" He emphasized, "There will be no exceptions to unfairness."

Under the current Credit Finance Business Act, if a credit card merchant discriminates against users paying with local currency via credit card (such as refusing transactions or demanding fees), it is grounds for cancellation of merchant registration, and those involved, including the business owner, may face up to one year imprisonment or a fine of up to 10 million KRW.

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