NTS to ease tax verification for local business owners

National Tax Service (NTS) Seoul Regional Office in central Seoul / Korea Times file

By Anna J. Park

In a move to alleviate difficulties faced by local business owners due to COVID-19, the National Tax Service (NTS) announced Friday that it will ease tax verification and streamline year-end tax adjustment procedures.

“Amid the current resurgence of COVID-19, the NTS needs to assume a strengthened role,” NTS Commissioner Kim Dai-ji said in an online meeting of district tax office heads Friday. “The NTS plans to ease tax verification for small business owners, who are facing difficulties from the pandemic and unbalanced economic recovery.” Kim added that the tax office will take bold action in offering direct help to job creators to boost the national economy.

The NTS chief also said annual year-end tax adjustment procedures will be largely streamlined. Currently, the taxation system puts business owners through a complicated annual process.

“From the second half of the year, the NTS will implement a full-on transformation into digital taxation,” Kim added.

“The core of the change is digitization of all spheres of national taxation. By incorporating technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data and cloud services, the NTS plans to create a new, upgraded normal for the taxation service.”

Meanwhile, he warned of severe punishment for any tax evasion, explaining that the NTS is trying to earn the publics' trust by imposing fair taxation.