Overseas to Domestic Transfers 'Annual Income Exceeding 500 Million KRW' Reporting Obligation... Ruling Party Proposes 'YouTuber Tax Evasion Prevention Act'

Yang Kyung-sook, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] A bill has been proposed to mandate income reporting for individual media creators (such as YouTubers) who earn direct revenue from overseas companies like Google. The purpose is to prevent tax evasion by high-income YouTubers.

On the 7th, Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, announced the proposal of a partial amendment to the "International Tax Adjustment Act" that requires YouTubers who deposit a combined total of over 500 million KRW annually from overseas financial accounts into domestic accounts to report their income.

Recently, with the rise of non-face-to-face e-commerce, cases of earning direct income from overseas companies have increased. In particular, YouTubers who receive advertising revenue directly from Google have consistently been pointed out as being in a "tax blind spot."

Under current law, overseas financial accounts must report balances exceeding 500 million KRW on a specific reference date (one day at the end of any month in the year), but there have been cases of intentional avoidance by adjusting the balance below the reporting threshold on the reference date. In response, the National Tax Service established a tax code targeting YouTubers, but since it still relies on voluntary reporting, there is a growing call for more thorough measures to enhance transparency in tax reporting.

The core of this amendment is to mandate reporting for those whose total deposits during the relevant year exceed 500 million KRW, rather than at a specific point in time, and to impose fines for non-compliance. Representative Yang said, "This bill imposes clear reporting obligations on taxpayers earning income through transactions with overseas companies and aims to enhance transparency in reporting," adding, "Based on the principle that 'where there is income, there is tax,' it will prevent tax evasion on foreign-sourced income and secure transparency in tax reporting."

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