Ministry of the Interior and Safety Selects 8 Outstanding Local Tax Policy Ideas from Residents This Year

Notification of Local Tax Refunds via KakaoTalk, Expansion of Automatic Transfer Tax Credit Scope

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 30th that it has selected eight outstanding proposals from the ‘Local Tax Policy Idea Contest’ held in February to utilize residents' innovative ideas for improving the local tax system.

A total of 101 local tax policy ideas were submitted to this contest, and among them, eight creative and practical ideas were finally selected, including electronic notification of local tax refunds, automatic local tax transfers, and expanding the scope of tax deductions at the time of payment.

The main outstanding proposals selected this time include establishing a legal basis to notify local tax refunds electronically, similar to the current electronic notifications via KakaoTalk and other platforms when paying local taxes. To enhance taxpayer convenience, a proposal was selected to allow corporations with business sites in two or more local governments to file amended returns collectively at the head office’s local government. Another proposal was to improve tax deductions for automatic transfers and electronic notifications to apply not only to regular payments but also to occasional payments.

Additionally, a proposal to improve the Witax system function to allow local tax payers to adjust the payment date and amount for easier payment was also selected as an outstanding idea.

The eight selected proposals will be submitted as discussion topics for the ‘2021 Non-face-to-face 2nd Local Tax System Improvement Forum’ held with local governments. The proposals finally adopted there will be reflected in the ‘2021 Local Tax System Reform Plan’ after gathering expert opinions. Submitters of the outstanding proposals will receive Onnuri gift certificates worth 300,000 KRW, and those whose proposals are finally adopted will be awarded the ‘Minister of the Interior and Safety Commendation.’

Park Jae-min, Director of the Local Finance and Economy Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, “We sincerely thank everyone who submitted valuable proposals to this local tax policy idea contest,” and added, “We will continue to listen carefully to the vivid voices of residents and strive to reform the local tax system together with the residents.”

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