The National Tax Service (NTS) has found that eight out of ten tax law amendment proposals submitted to the Ministry of Economy and Finance in the past three years were not included in the government's tax reform plans. There were 174 instances where proposals not accepted in the previous year were resubmitted, with 156 of those again rejected.
According to data received by Kim Sang-hoon, a member of the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Committee, the NTS submitted a total of 1,109 proposals related to legal, enforcement, and implementation rule amendments from 2024 to this year. Of these, 207 proposals were included in the government's tax reform plan, accounting for 18.7% of the total. The remaining 902 proposals, or 81.3%, were not accepted.
The acceptance rate has also declined over the years. In 2024, 105 out of 418 proposals were accepted, resulting in a 25.1% acceptance rate. Last year, 52 out of 349 proposals (14.9%) were accepted, and this year, 50 out of 342 proposals (14.6%) were included.
Particularly low was the acceptance rate for proposals related to the comprehensive real estate tax. Out of 88 proposals for amendments to the real estate tax law submitted over the past three years, only five (5.7%) were accepted. This is significantly lower than the 19.9% acceptance rate for income tax-related proposals. None of the 34 proposals related to the comprehensive real estate tax submitted last year were accepted.
There were also numerous instances of resubmitting proposals from the previous year. A comparison of the proposals by year revealed that 94 proposals were resubmitted last year, and 80 this year, totaling 174 proposals that had not been accepted in the prior year. Among these, 156 proposals (89.7%) were again rejected.
Notably, 25 proposals, including those calling for the unification of the assessment period for the comprehensive real estate tax and the period for filing correction claims, the specification of information for the disclosure of high-value habitual defaulters, the relaxation of requirements for the inheritance tax exemption for family businesses, and the introduction of a pre-reporting system for suspected tax avoidance transactions, were submitted for three consecutive years but were not included in the tax reform plan.
On the other hand, some proposals did lead to actual improvements in the system. The expansion of tax exemptions for maternity and childcare support payments made by companies was included in the 2024 reforms, and the requirement for media content creators, such as YouTubers, to submit cash sales statements was included in the 2025 tax reform plan. This year, measures to raise the income criteria and maximum payment amounts for the Earned Income Tax Credit, the elimination of the individual consumption tax exemption for hybrid cars, and the addition of virtual assets to the list of financial assets subject to inheritance and gift tax were included.
Kim pointed out that the NTS is submitting a large number of proposals without distinguishing their importance or urgency. He noted that about one-third of the proposals include terms like 'clarification,' 'maintenance,' and 'format or wording revisions,' which are more about administrative adjustments. If the demands for improvements from the field continue to be ignored, the Ministry of Economy and Finance's Taxation Division cannot escape responsibility for this oversight.
Kim stated, “It is time to evaluate the quality of proposals rather than their quantity. We need to prioritize essential tasks from the field and establish a system to analyze the reasons for the rejection of proposals and improve them.”
An NTS official commented, “Repeated proposals are a continuous effort to address the inconveniences and enforcement difficulties faced by taxpayers in the field. We will strengthen communication with the Ministry of Economy and Finance to increase the acceptance rate and effectiveness of our proposals.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.