Top 1% YouTubers Earned a Total of 243.8 Billion KRW Annually... 700 Million KRW Income Per Person

Top 1% YouTubers Account for 25% of Total Income
Han Byung-do Points Out "Some YouTubers Evolving Tax Evasion Methods"

Income of domestic YouTubers has increased nearly tenfold in two years, with the top 1% earning more than 240 billion KRW annually, accounting for 25% of the total YouTube income. The average income per person reached about 700 million KRW.

According to data submitted by the National Tax Service to Han Byung-do, a member of the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the total income reported by "one-person media creators (YouTubers)" for comprehensive income tax in 2021 was 858.898 billion KRW.

YouTubers’ income has shown a sharp increase every year. Based on comprehensive income tax filings, YouTubers’ income was 87.511 billion KRW in 2019, rising to 452.081 billion KRW in 2020, and 858.898 billion KRW in 2021, showing a steep growth of about ten times in two years.

[Image source=Pixabay]

The number of filers also increased significantly. The number of YouTubers filing comprehensive income tax was 2,776 in 2019, 20,756 in 2020, and 34,219 in 2021, showing an increasing trend every year.

The National Tax Service has classified YouTubers as "one-person media creators" since 2019 and has been compiling annual comprehensive income tax payment amounts and the number of filers. Among YouTubers who filed comprehensive income tax, the top 1%?342 YouTubers?had a combined income of 243.865 billion KRW. This amount corresponds to 24.8% of the total income. In other words, the top 1% of YouTubers monopolized 25% of the total YouTuber income. The average annual income per person for the top 1% of YouTubers was 713 million KRW.

The number of media content creation companies paying corporate tax also increased significantly in two years. The number of media content creation companies paying corporate tax was 71 in 2020 but rose to 870 in 2022, more than 12 times higher. Their income also increased similarly, from 32.3 billion KRW in 2020 to 355.4 billion KRW in 2022.

The tax authorities believe that as YouTubers’ earnings increase, tax evasion has also likely increased. In February, the National Tax Service announced that it would conduct tax investigations on 84 individuals suspected of tax evasion, including YouTubers, webtoon artists, celebrities, and athletes. Among them, YouTuber A, specializing in finance, received broadcasting income and viewer donations under false names, while YouTuber B, a stock market YouTuber, received tens of billions of KRW in income through false-name accounts or cryptocurrency and embezzled funds. B also established a company under an employee’s name and received fake tax invoices.

Representative Han said, "Some YouTubers are increasingly using personal accounts or virtual assets to receive donations, evolving their tax evasion methods," and emphasized, "Tax authorities should not rely solely on voluntary reporting by YouTubers but should devise measures to eliminate blind spots."

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