Smarter Year-End Tax Settlement Simplification Service... Notifies 'Dependent Family Members Exceeding Income Requirements'

National Tax Service to Revamp 'Hometax' from January Next Year
Hometax to Replace VAT Electronic Report Form
Popup Displays Deduction Requirements Prone to Errors
Refund Service to Launch in March Next Year

The National Tax Service's 'Year-end Tax Adjustment Simplification Service,' launching on January 15 next year, will become smarter. It will indicate which dependents have a comprehensive income amount exceeding 1 million won to prevent excessive deductions due to mistakes, and it will notify taxpayers of deduction requirements prone to errors through pop-ups.

The National Tax Service announced on the 30th that it has revamped Hometax to make it easier for taxpayers to understand and file without mistakes, beyond just improving convenience for filing and payment, by promoting the 'Hometax Advancement Project.'

Seongjin Lee, Director of Informatization Management at the National Tax Service, is explaining the overhaul of Hometax on the 30th.

Previously, taxpayers had to pay up to a 40% additional tax (10% for general excess refunds, 40% for fraudulent excess refunds) when claiming excessive year-end tax adjustment deductions, such as for dependents exceeding income requirements with a comprehensive income exceeding 1 million won (or total salary of 5 million won if only earned income).

Lee Sung-jin, Director of Informatization Management at the National Tax Service, explained, "In the past, such excessive deductions sometimes resulted from unintended mistakes, but the year-end tax adjustment service has become smarter to prevent taxpayer errors. From the first half of 2024, simplified data will not be provided for dependents whose income already exceeds the income requirements or who passed away before December 31, 2023."

For electronic VAT filing, Hometax will prepare the tax return on behalf of the taxpayer. Going forward, Hometax will automatically prepare the tax return by maximizing the use of information held by the National Tax Service, such as credit card, cash receipt, and electronic tax invoice data. If sales or deduction items are modified (or filed as is if no changes are needed), VAT will be automatically recalculated, allowing taxpayers to plan their future tax payments in advance.

The Hometax interface will be redesigned to make it easier for taxpayers to find the screens they want. Hometax is a comprehensive service consisting of 4,066 screens and 800 menus, making it difficult for first-time users to find the desired tasks. To resolve this, the National Tax Service will transform it into a differentiated personalized portal that shows taxpayers the content they need by type and timing.

Additionally, an intelligent search function has been introduced so that taxpayers can find the desired service at once even if they do not know the exact tax terminology. For example, a taxpayer working as a delivery rider who does not know the exact term 'personal service income earner' can search for 'delivery rider,' and AI will understand the taxpayer type and tax schedule context to display the 'Personal Service Income Earner Late Filing' screen at the top of the search results.

Along with this, the National Tax Service plans to launch the 'Smart Refund' service in March next year. This service will show up to five years of income amounts and refund tax amounts by taxpayer type and allow refunds without fee burdens through one-touch simple filing.

The revamped Hometax service will be launched step-by-step for all tax categories according to the tax schedule, starting with VAT filing and year-end tax adjustment in January next year, followed by comprehensive income tax filing in May.

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