Top 1% YouTubers, Average Earnings of 670 Million Won?…Assemblywoman Yang Kyung-sook Says "Limitations of Voluntary Reporting"

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] As the first comprehensive income tax filing was conducted for popular creators (media content creators) active on platforms such as YouTube, it was revealed that the top 1% of popular YouTubers earned an average annual income of 671 million KRW per person (based on 2019). However, since this figure is based on voluntary reporting, there are concerns that it is insufficient to accurately grasp the exact income.

According to the 'Media Content Creator Income Percentile Data' submitted by the National Tax Service to Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, 2,776 media content creators filed comprehensive income tax returns for the 2019 tax year, reporting a total income amount of 87.5 billion KRW (an average of 31.52 million KRW per person). The income amount is before deducting expenses and is similar to the concept of sales revenue.

In particular, the income of the top 1% of media content creators, including YouTubers, which corresponds to 27 people, amounted to 18.125 billion KRW, accounting for about 20% of the total income. The average income per person among the top 10%, consisting of 277 people, was 216 million KRW.

On the other hand, the total income of the bottom 50% was 1.5 billion KRW, with an average of 1.08 million KRW per person, and the average income of 917 people in the bottom 33% was less than 1 million KRW annually.

This comprehensive income tax filing was the first since a separate business code for YouTubers was established in September 2019. Previously, income was reported under codes such as 'other self-employment,' making it difficult to identify income. Accordingly, the National Tax Service created the business codes 'Media Content Creation' and 'One-person Media Content Creation' to accurately grasp the income of new business operators who produce video content and generate revenue in internet and mobile-based media platform environments such as YouTubers and BJs.

However, considering a YouTube statistics analysis company's estimate that as of January last year, there were about 3,400 Korean accounts (channels) with more than 100,000 subscribers, it is presumed that comprehensive income tax filing is still sluggish.

Representative Yang said, "Although the taxation code has been established, the structure still makes it difficult for tax authorities to grasp earnings unless individual YouTubers voluntarily report," and added, "It is necessary to thoroughly induce voluntary reporting and for the National Tax Service to strictly manage and supervise to prevent income tax evasion."

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