5.56 Million Self-Employed and Good Landlords, Income Tax Payment Deadline Extended to End of August

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] On the 28th, the National Tax Service announced that it will extend the income tax payment deadline by three months, from May to the end of August, for about 5.56 million small business owners and others who suffered damage due to the spread of COVID-19. The targets include small business owners subject to gathering bans or business restrictions, micro business owners, lower-tier business owners with sharp sales declines, and benevolent landlords.

Notification letters will be sent to the eligible individuals, and the National Tax Service's Hometax comprehensive income tax filing assistance service also allows checking whether the extension is granted ex officio. Even if not eligible for ex officio extension, those who have difficulties in filing or payment can apply for an extension. For refund recipients whose pre-paid tax amounts such as withholding tax exceed the payable tax amount, refunds will be paid by June 23, one week earlier than usual.

Benevolent landlords can receive a tax credit of 50% of the rent reduction amount. The National Tax Service has formed a dedicated team of 423 members across the headquarters, regional offices, and tax offices, and is providing support through a dedicated consultation number (126 without area code) and a newly established guidance section on its website. Additionally, small and medium-sized enterprises in areas declared as special disaster zones due to the spread of COVID-19 can receive tax reductions of up to 60% on income tax for eligible business sites.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, the National Tax Service has reduced on-site filing support at tax offices and expanded simplified filing. First, it is providing the fully pre-filled filing for separate taxation on residential rental income (income amount under 20 million KRW), which is frequently filed directly by taxpayers, for the first time. Fully pre-filled means a tax return pre-prepared by the National Tax Service from income amount to payable tax. Along with this, simplified filing methods such as simplified expense ratio fully pre-filled, mobile, and ARS are being expanded, and the number of income tax staff at consultation centers is increased from 90 to 148. Convenience in using Hometax has also been improved by introducing simple login, customized navigation, and a one-hour trial extension of usage time.

Along with tax support, prior guidance will be provided to ensure faithful reporting by high-income earners, new industries, and booming sectors. In particular, creators of one-person media content are guided to faithfully report income such as advertising revenue, and business operators in booming sectors whose income increased compared to the previous year after COVID-19 are extracted and analyzed to communicate important points for faithful reporting of income and necessary expenses. In this process, the National Tax Service uses big data analysis to provide individual analysis data and common precautions by industry.

Furthermore, regarding the separate filing of individual local income tax by local governments, which has been implemented since last year, a linked filing system with income tax has been established even in mobile environments, and call center counselors have been increased from 30 to 60. For small business support, those eligible for the income tax payment deadline extension will also receive the same extension for individual local income tax payment deadlines until the end of August.

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