More than 545,000 corporations with a December fiscal year-end must make their interim corporate tax payments by the end of this month. Approximately 40,000 small businesses affected by high exchange rates, rising oil prices, and the Homeplus incident will have their payment deadlines extended by two months.
The National Tax Service announced on August 4 that corporations subject to interim corporate tax payments must file and pay their taxes by August 31. This year, the number of corporations required to make interim payments has increased by 17,000 compared to last year.
Interim corporate tax payments are designed to distribute the tax burden for businesses and ensure stable fiscal revenue by allowing companies to pay a portion of their annual corporate tax in advance. The payment amount can be calculated based on 50% of the corporate tax from the previous business year or by estimating the first half of the current year's business performance.
However, about 2,600 corporations belonging to designated business groups by the Fair Trade Commission must report and pay based solely on their first-half performance. Small businesses within these groups can choose between the two calculation methods.
Small businesses with an interim payment amount calculated based on the previous business year's tax liability of less than 500,000 won are exempt from filing and payment obligations. Newly established corporations, non-profit organizations with only interest income, and corporations with no income in the first half due to suspension of operations are also excluded from this requirement.
If the payment amount exceeds 10 million won, installment payments are allowed. Small businesses can spread their payments over two months after August 31, while larger corporations can do so over one month.
For amounts exceeding 10 million won but less than 20 million won, businesses must first pay 10 million won and then can pay the remainder in installments. For amounts over 20 million won, 50% of the payment can be made in installments.
The National Tax Service will automatically extend the payment deadline for 40,474 small businesses facing difficulties due to high exchange rates, rising oil prices, and the Homeplus incident from August 31 to November 2. The total tax amount affected is 909.2 billion won.
Businesses eligible for support due to high exchange rates include those in manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and food service sectors that have seen their value-added rates drop by more than 40% in the first half of this year compared to the second half of last year. This group includes 39,695 businesses with a total tax amount of 89.8 billion won.
Additionally, 691 small businesses in the transportation sector, which have also experienced a value-added rate drop of over 40% during the same period, will benefit from the extended payment deadline, with a total tax amount of 8 billion won.
Small businesses that suffered losses related to Homeplus, specifically those with more than 30% of their total sales coming from Homeplus last year, number 116, with a deferred tax amount of 3.8 billion won.
Even if they are not automatically eligible for an extension, small businesses facing management difficulties can apply for a payment deadline extension, which the National Tax Service will review. Applications can be submitted through Hometax or by mail to the relevant tax office.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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