By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
Going back to the biblical era, tax collectors have been the target of public hatred and fear. It may not be overly exaggerated that the National Tax Service is, if not more, as feared in Korea as is the Internal Revenue Service in the United States.
Apparently being aware that it needs a major overhaul of its image, the NTS yesterday unveiled a package that is intended to be more friendly to tax payers and bring more transparency to the tax collection process. The package was unveiled at the meeting of Strategy and Finance Minister Kang Man-soo and NTS Commissioner Han Sang-yool with heads of key tax offices around the nation.
According to the package, outside personnel will be invited into a committee to decide the selection of those to be audited. The committee will also be empowered to decide on the number of those to be audited; focus of the audits and standards for exemptions.
After audits, those audited will be asked whether they have any grievances. The feedback, if checked for veracity, would be reflected on the performance assessment of tax collectors. In order to give teeth to the process, auditors who belong to the top 5 percent in the assessment will be given priority in promotion, while those in the bottom 10 percent may face a transfer to non-audit departments.
In addition, consultations will be offered to those who face audits regarding the process, their rights and after-audit explanations.
``Our bureaucratic culture has been criticized by taxpayers for a long time. Now is the time to transform our regulation-focused and control-driven culture into a responsible and customer-oriented one,'' top taxman Han stressed.
The tax agency's latest measure to make the tax audit more taxpayer friendly is in line with Lee Myung-bak's pledge to establish a more business friendly environment to help companies expand investment and create more jobs.
Many businesses and individuals have long been complaining about the NTS's tax probe, saying it is unnecessarily heavy-handed and often disrupts business operations.
Meanwhile, the NTS said small companies and mom-and-pop shops will be exempted from tax audits for three years as part of its effort to facilitate the government-wide effort to ease burdens on small businesses and low-income households.
The tax agency said tax-compliant small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with less than 1 billion won in annual sales and self-employed earning less than 100 million won a year will be exempted from tax audits for three years.
It said the measure is aimed at helping businesses and individuals cope with rising commodity prices, sluggish domestic demand, a global economic slowdown and other unfavorable economic conditions.