YouTubers Report Higher Income Than Lawyers... Top 1% Earn 700 Million KRW Annually

34,000 People in 2021... More Than Lawyers and Tax Accountants
National Tax Service to Investigate Suspected Tax Evaders

The number of business operators reporting income as individual media creators, such as YouTubers, has increased twelvefold in two years. Among them, the top 1% of creators by income earned an average annual income exceeding 700 million KRW.

On the 7th, Yang Kyung-sook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, disclosed data titled ‘Income Status of Individual Media Creators (YouTubers, etc.)’ received from the National Tax Service.

Individual media creators refer to business operators who produce content and generate revenue by sharing it in media environments based on the internet and mobile platforms, such as YouTubers and internet broadcast hosts (BJs).

According to the data, as of 2021, the number of people reporting income as individual media content creators was 34,219. Compared to 2,776 in 2019, this represents a 12.3-fold increase and exceeds the numbers of lawyers (6,292), tax accountants (9,611), architects (8,122), and judicial scriveners (6,783).

Among them, the annual income of the top 1%, consisting of 342 individuals, averaged 713 million KRW per person. This is a 6.3% increase from the average annual income of 671 million KRW for the top 1% of 27 individuals in 2019.

The total income of the top 1% was 243.9 billion KRW, accounting for 28% of the total income of all individual media creators (858.9 billion KRW). Meanwhile, the average annual income of the bottom 50% (17,110 people) was 400,000 KRW, down from 1 million KRW in 2019, widening the gap between the top and bottom. Additionally, the average annual income of individual media creators in 2021 was 25 million KRW, a decrease of 7 million KRW from 32 million KRW in 2019. This decline is analyzed to be due to the increase in the number of business operators reporting income.

Representative Yang pointed out, “Considering that they receive support by publicly sharing account numbers on screen or receive money under the pretext of covert advertising, exploiting ‘tax blind spots,’ their actual income is likely higher.”

She added, “Many YouTubers evading taxes are being caught every year. Tax authorities should rigorously verify suspects of tax evasion to ensure fair taxation and contribute to securing tax revenue.”

Meanwhile, the National Tax Service announced in February that it would conduct tax investigations on YouTubers suspected of tax evasion.

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