By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

For many singles, more frustrating than being alone on Valentine's Day might be getting virtually no tax refunds later this month. Unmarried salaried workers and single-person households are excluded from many benefits reserved for married employees.

Singles are occupying a greater portion of the population but feel unfairly treated compared to married couples in terms of various financial and tax benefits.

According to the Korea National Statistical Office (NSO), there were 3.2 million one-person households in Korea in 2005. The number of people aged 20 to 30 living alone is decreasing, while for those in their 30s and 40s, it is increasing. People in their 30s living alone were tallied at 1.7 million.

The unmarried feel they are discriminated against when they file for year-end tax deductions. Seol, a 25-year-old office worker who filed for tax refunds at the end of last month, lacks high expectations of getting any money back.

``My fellow workers say that most unmarried people do not get refunds after the year-end tax settlements but actually pay more,'' she said.

According to the National Tax Service, tax payers are entitled to special income tax deductions for the support of a spouse and dependent family members, insurance bills, medical expenses and the cost of school education. Unmarried people cannot benefit from these exemptions.

``I try to keep receipts for every cash expense since it's a sure way to get tax deductions as a single,'' Seol said.

With the Ministry of Strategy and Finance moving to provide more tax favors to multi-children families to encourage childbirth, the gap will become even bigger between single person households and households of married couples.

The singles also face disadvantages when trying to buy new apartments as well. Priority for new apartments is based in part on the number of dependents.

Last year, the government announced plans to help newlyweds get homes. This new plan sets some 30 percent of new apartments aside for couples who've gotten married in the last five years and have children.

Singles face difficulty borrowing money for ``jeonse,'' a long term rental deposit, from banks. Such loans are popular because they have interest rates of 4.5-5.5 percent, lower than ordinary loans of at least 8.5 percent. They have to meet picky conditions to become entitled to the loans.

Lily Kim, a senior clerk of Nonghyup Bank, explained jeonse loans. ``The basic condition for the key money deposit loan is the recipient must be over 20. However, the age limit is raised to 35 when the heads of households are unmarried,'' Kim said. ``As for the unmarried, if the head of the household has a dependent older than 60 or is going to be married within one month, they are eligible.''

The NSO predicted the number of one-person households will exceed that of three-people households by 2013 and one-person household will reach up to 4.7 million. However, there is an insufficient social safety net for single households.

``With one-person households taking up a greater portion, they should not be alienated from tax and other government policies,'' said Kim Hye-young, a research fellow of Korea Women's Development Institute.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr