Korea's National Tax Service announces measures to support small business owners

Since sharply hiking the minimum wage this year, the Moon Jae-in Administration has vowed to provide support to small business owners hit the hardest by the change.On Thursday, the National Tax Service announced a series of measures to reduce their burden. Kim Hyesung has more. Korea's National Tax Service, or NTS, said Thursday it will postpone tax audits or scrap them entirely for around five-point-seven million self-employed people and small businesses 'til the end of 2019. "First, we will postpone tax inspections for five-point-1-9 million people, about 89 percent all of those self-employed in Korea whose annual earnings are below a certain amount. They will not have to verify the contents of their tax filings."The tax audit exemption applies to the self-employed in wholesale and retail with sales under 600 million Korean won or around 530-thousand U.S. dollars a year...and those in food and lodging services with sales under 265-thousand dollars a year. It does not apply to high income earners like laywers and doctors or real estate businesses. In addition, around 500-thousand small businesses with sales of between 900-thousand to 1-point-6 million dollars, who account for 70 percent of Korean businesses, will be exempt from tax audits 'til the end of next year. The announcement comes after President Moon Jae-in called earlier this week for measures to help reduce the tax burden on the self-employed. The self-employed account for over a quarter of Korea's working population, and they've been hit the hardest by a hike in the minimum wage this year of 16 percent... and by sluggish domestic consumption. NTS Commissioner Han Sung-hee said the agency hopes the change will help small businesses and the self-employed focus on their businesses, but he also emphasized that those suspected of tax evasion will still be thoroughly investigated. The National Tax Service will also create a task force on taxes to support innovative growth, which will provide customized support and make the tax reporting system easier for startups. Lastly, the NTS promised to work on its job stabilization fund to support those hit by the minimum wage hike.Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.