[2020 National Tax Administration Forum] Expanding Support for Small Taxpayers... Considering Easing Reassessment Requirements

On the 16th, at the '2020 National Tax Administration Forum' held at the Bankers Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul, attendees including Kim Dae-ji, Commissioner of the National Tax Service (second from the right in the first row), Lee Pil-sang, Chairman of the National Tax Administration Reform Committee, and Kim Yoo-chan, President of the Korea Institute of Public Finance, are taking a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The National Tax Service (NTS) is considering measures to conduct re-investigations when new evidence proving tax evasion emerges and to expand partial investigations in order to improve overlapping tax audits. It is also preparing plans to expand tax filing services for small taxpayers.

These suggestions were made at the '2020 National Tax Administration Forum' held jointly by the National Tax Administration Reform Committee and the Korea Institute of Public Finance on the 16th, with support from the NTS.

Professor Joonggyo Lee of Yonsei University Law School, who presented at the forum, emphasized, "The NTS should be able to conduct tax audits more easily."

Professor Lee proposed, "Currently, Korea only allows re-investigations when there is 'clear evidence' of tax evasion, but it should also permit re-investigations when 'new evidence' arises."

He also mentioned, "The current method of integrating all tax items into one audit is inefficient, so it should be possible to distinguish and focus investigations on suspected tax evasion items (partial investigations)."

The NTS stated that it will consider these as mid- to long-term policy tasks in light of the economic downturn caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The forum also raised the need to broaden the scope of gift tax to respond to irregular gifting activities. Professor Hoon Park of the Graduate School of Taxation at the University of Seoul said, "It is desirable to tax based on the substantive nature of the gift rather than being confined to the examples enumerated in the law."

Additionally, Joon Jung, head of the Tax Research Team at the Korea Institute of Public Finance, advised, "Tax filing services for economically disadvantaged small taxpayers should be expanded." He argued that expanding tax credits for related costs to allow small taxpayers who find tax filing difficult to receive help from tax agents is also a viable approach.

The NTS responded that it will promptly reflect these proposals in policy.

Kim Daeji, Commissioner of the NTS, stated, "In the operation of national tax administration, the protection of taxpayer rights and the value of tax justice must harmonize," and added, "Improving filing support systems focusing on small taxpayers is also an urgent task."

The NTS plans to carefully review the various improvement opinions discussed at this forum, actively incorporate feasible matters into policy, and actively consult with related ministries such as the Ministry of Economy and Finance on matters requiring legal amendments. Furthermore, for issues requiring social consensus, the NTS will carefully consider whether to proceed after gathering opinions from policy stakeholders.

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