"National Tax Service to Reduce Taxes with Superior Terminals, Inspecting Payment Agencies Encouraging Tax Evasion"

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The National Tax Service (NTS) is launching an inspection of unregistered payment gateway companies that advertise reducing taxes with 'tax-saving terminals' and encourage tax evasion by merchants.

On the 30th, the NTS announced that it will conduct a planned inspection to verify allegations of tax evasion facilitation by 43 unregistered payment gateway companies.

These companies are suspected of inducing tax evasion by small shopping malls and restaurants by not submitting merchant payment gateway data (sales) to the NTS and omitting sales.

Payment gateway companies act as intermediaries for card payments at small stores that have difficulty signing contracts with credit card companies.

To operate as a payment gateway company, registration with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is required. Payment gateway data, which serves as the basis for VAT and income tax assessments for stores, must be submitted quarterly to the NTS.

It was revealed that unregistered companies induced merchants to underreport sales by failing to properly submit payment gateway data at this time.

They recruited merchants through advertisements claiming that taxes could be reduced with 'tax-saving terminals' and collected commissions amounting to 7-8% of sales.

The NTS used big data analysis techniques to track related advertisements and credit card and electronic tax invoice issuance records, identifying 43 payment gateway companies suspected of illegal operations.

The companies in question will be asked to explain the non-submission or under-submission of payment gateway data, and tax evasion allegations will be verified based on their explanations.

The list of unregistered payment gateway companies will be reported to the FSS, and if it is confirmed that merchants actually omitted sales through these companies, taxes on the corresponding amounts will also be imposed.

The NTS stated, "We will continuously monitor the tax evasion facilitation activities of unregistered payment gateway companies and thoroughly verify the faithful reporting of merchants using them."

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