By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
The Cabinet passed a tax code revision that would allow companies to spend up to 200,000 won per event on costs related to ceremonial occasions and funerals, without the need for receipts in tax filings and corporate bookkeeping.
The measure is part of a slew of tax and accounting law revisions to help businesses and individuals, which were endorsed at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. One approved measure involves a business tax code that could simplify corporate expense accounting.
These expenses would cover monetary gifts offered on behalf of the company for wedding ceremonies and other major personal events. The previous limit was 100,000 won.
The revision is expected to help cut unnecessary paperwork at major corporations, according to government officials.
Another revision approved by the government would make it easier for companies to spend cash on meals for clients.
Previously, businesses were required by law to provide the names and personal information of their clients when spending more than 500,000 won. The new revision would lift that requirement, simplifying corporate tax-filing processes.
Additionally, office items, including pens and notebooks, with company logos meant to advertise corporate brands will be fully deductible for tax purposes under the new revision.
The government also took steps to encourage corporations to invest in domestic artwork. A newly revised tax code increases the upper price limit for investing in art from one million to three million won per each piece. These costs would be fully tax-deductible.
The new change would also allow some individual tax filers to qualify for a lower earned-income tax bracket.
Qualified individuals could see their income tax rate get cut by one or two percentage points. For example, a worker whose monthly salary is three million won could see his or her monthly earned-income tax lowered from around 54,000 to 39,000 won, according to government officials.
Another change adopted Wednesday would make it easier for new families to pay property tax on a single house for a longer period of time, even if they own multiple dwellings.
Under the previous real estate tax law, when a newly married couple possesses multiple homes within their new household, they could still continue to pay property tax on just a single house for up to two years. That grace period would now be extended to five years under the revision.
The government also adopted measures to make it less burdensome for small family business owners to transfer their corporate ownership to their children by modifying the previous inheritance tax law.