Earning Over 100 Million Won but Paying '0 Won' in Taxes... Increase in High-Income Tax-Exempt Individuals

Tax-exempt Individuals Among Those with Integrated Income Over 100 Million Increased by 694
Tax-exempt Despite Earning Over 1 Billion
Number Doubled from 20 to 47

The proportion of 'tax-exempt earners from earned and comprehensive income' who do not pay taxes due to various income and tax deductions is decreasing across all income brackets, but it has been found to be increasing among high-income earners with over 100 million won. This means that even those earning more than 100 million won are not paying taxes.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to data on the 'Number of People and Tax-Exempt Status by Integrated Income (Earned + Comprehensive Income) Bracket' submitted by the National Tax Service to Jin Sun-mi, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, as of 2021, there were a total of 25,359,367 earners, with a total integrated income of 983.2339 trillion won. Among them, the number of tax-exempt earners with a final tax amount of zero was 8,128,000, which is 280,000 fewer than the previous year.

However, among the 1,426,531 people who earned more than 100 million won in integrated income (an increase of 232,468 from the previous year), the number of tax-exempt earners with a final tax amount of zero was 6,221, an increase of 694 during the same period, showing a contrasting trend.

Among the 14,041 earners with integrated income exceeding 1 billion won, the number of tax-exempt earners more than doubled from 20 to 47 during the same period.

The office of the lawmaker explained that while the proportion of tax-exempt earners across all income brackets is decreasing, the number of tax-exempt earners among those earning over 100 million won is on the rise.

The reasons cited for the increase in high-income tax-exempt earners include medical expense and donation tax credits, foreign tax credits for expatriates who pay taxes to foreign governments, and child tax credits.

Lawmaker Jin Sun-mi emphasized, "Although the overall proportion of tax-exempt earners is decreasing, the number of tax-exempt high-income earners is increasing. It is necessary to strengthen the verification of the scale of deductions for earners and to implement income growth policies that gradually realize a natural decrease in tax-exempt earners without burdening the public."

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