Seongdong-gu 'Local Tax Unclaimed Refunds' Comprehensive Cleanup

Cumulative Refunds Reach 140 Million Won... Easy Refund Application Available via Text Service Until the 29th

An employee from the Tax Department of Seongdong-gu is consulting with a civil petitioner regarding a refund.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jeong Won-oh) is operating the ‘Local Tax Unclaimed Refunds Intensive Settlement Period’ until the 29th, allowing taxpayers to easily claim unclaimed local tax refunds via text message application.

Local tax refunds arise from amounts to be refunded due to events such as annual prepayment of automobile tax followed by vehicle scrapping or ownership transfer, corrections or double payments of local income tax, and most of these refunds are small amounts under 100,000 KRW.

When a refund occurs, a notification is immediately sent to the refund recipient. However, as of September, there are 1,971 unclaimed refund cases totaling 149 million KRW accumulated over the past five years. Cases of unclaimed refunds under 100,000 KRW account for 86.5%, indicating that low interest in small refunds is a major cause of unclaimed amounts.

Accordingly, the district office has actively informed eligible refund recipients of the refund procedures through sending refund claim notices and mobile notifications in early September, launching a campaign to ‘Find Unclaimed Refunds.’

The refund method is simple. Recipients of the notice can conveniently apply for a refund using the ‘Local Tax Refund Phone Text Service’ operated by the district office without needing to visit the office in person.

Additionally, refund applications can be made through various methods such as phone, fax, mail, Seoul’s internet tax payment system ‘ETAX,’ the mobile application ‘STAX,’ and ARS.

An official from the district office stated, “Seongdong-gu currently records a refund rate of 99.6% against the total refund amount, but through this intensive refund campaign, we aim to achieve a 100% settlement rate.” They added, “Local tax refunds are reclaimed by the national treasury if not claimed within five years after occurrence, so even small amounts should be claimed within the claim period.”

Jeong Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “All unclaimed local tax refunds are valuable assets of taxpayers,” and added, “We are actively promoting various convenient local tax refund inquiry and application procedures so that many taxpayers can reclaim their valuable rights.” For local tax refund applications and inquiries, detailed information is available at the Taxation Division 2 of Seongdong-gu Office.

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