NTS chief promotes Korea's electronic tax administration

By Lee Kyung-min

National Tax Service (NTS) Commissioner Han Sung-hee has gained recognition for his speech on Korea's electronic tax system to his global peers at a recent global forum held in Santiago, Chile, the tax agency said Monday.

Tax commissioners from 53 countries gathered for the three-day forum organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD) from March 26 to 28 to discuss ways to boost efficient tax administration.

Han was asked to share Korea's knowledge and experience in the effective management of electronic tax administration, widely known as e-filing.

The invitation from the OECD is the latest illustration of how the country has implemented a tax system for other countries to model, according to the agency.

“Last year, 174 tax officials from 10 countries came to Korea to learn about our system and the number of visitors will grow in the coming months,” an NTS official said.

A number of nations have adopted the e-filing system, but many of them struggle because the tax authorities have no effective means to enforce its use.

“Not only officials from Africa and Southeast Asia, those from Japan, China and the Netherlands have come here. They mostly want to know how we are able to maintain such a high filing rate. In other words, what government policy encourages or incentivizes people to participate in the voluntary filing,” he added.

Korea has a value-added tax (VAT) filing rate of 98 percent and the rate for corporate tax and income tax was 97 percent and 92 percent, respectively, according to the NTS.

In 2017, the average OECD rate for income tax filing stands at only 57 percent. The rate for corporate tax was 80 percent and VAT was 87 percent.

Closely integrated data sharing among government agencies that manage personal information helps boost taxpayers' convenience by sharing the wide-ranging information required for tax filing.

“Expenditures on medical costs, education for children and insurance premium payments can be shared online with a simple click of a button. This means people no longer have to go through the hassle of in-person visits to banks, hospitals and other institutions to have their expenditures receipts issued to include in the tax filings,” he added.