6.92 Million Business Owners Must File Final VAT Returns by July 27

The National Tax Service (NTS) announced today (July 2) that the final value-added tax (VAT) return and payment for the first half of this year must be completed by July 27.

The number of taxpayers required to file this time is 6.92 million, an increase of 130,000 from a year ago.

This includes 5.56 million individual general taxpayers, up 100,000, and 1.36 million corporate taxpayers, an increase of 30,000.

Among simplified taxpayers, 90,000 individuals who are subject to the preliminary assessment and have not issued tax invoices must pay the notified preliminary VAT amount.

All simplified taxpayers who issued tax invoices in the first half of this year are required to report and pay based on their performance during that period.

For those subject to the preliminary assessment, if their sales or tax payments for the first half of the year are less than one-third of the previous tax period, they can have the assessed tax amount canceled by filing a return.

Even if a business owner's tax status (simplified or general) changed starting this month, they must file this return based on their status prior to the change.

Tax returns can be prepared without visiting a tax office by using the Hometax (Sontax) "pre-filled" service, which offers 22 types of pre-filled data.

Those with no business performance can file via Sontax or the ARS (1544-9944).

Assistance is also available through the generative AI chatbot service introduced in January of this year.

The NTS will automatically extend the payment deadline by two months, until September 28, for 1.026 million taxpayers, including small and medium-sized enterprises suffering from high exchange rates, young entrepreneurs in the early stages of their businesses, and small business owners experiencing a sharp decline in sales, without the need for a separate application.

For those eligible for tax support, such as export companies, refunds will be issued 5 to 12 days earlier than the statutory deadline if they apply for a refund within the filing period.

To ensure that business owners affected by the non-payment issues at WeMakePrice and Interpark Commerce can file for VAT corrections, the NTS plans to provide individual notifications via the Hometax "filing assistance service" and mobile alerts.

The NTS plans to focus on monitoring dishonest reporting, particularly regarding sales reports from short-term rental businesses.

With the recent increase in foreign tourists, demand for short-term rentals has surged, especially in tourist hubs like Seoul and Busan, leading to cases where sales are omitted through the use of borrowed-name accounts.

Moving forward, the agency plans to conduct precise analysis and inspections using sales data (sales agency data) obtained directly from overseas short-term rental platforms.

Other areas of focus include cases where taxpayers received input tax refunds for officetels acquired for rental purposes but used them for residential purposes, as well as cases where paper-based local gift certificates were received but not reported.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.