Reduce local tax burden on small business owners who suffer from business restrictions

The government has decided to continue supporting small businesses and those affected by Corona 19 to extend the payment deadline for local taxes or postpone the collection of local taxes as a result of distancing measures to prevent COVID-19.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, from February last year to the end of the year, a total of 15.34 million cases including extension of the payment deadline and deferral of collection were provided, and support related to local tax and non-local income of KRW 1.83 trillion was provided.

Among them, the local tax benefit amounted to 12.26 million cases and KRW 1.766.9 billion.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security is planning to provide local tax support for corona 19 confirmed patients, self-isolation individuals, and businesses and small business owners affected by the collective ban and business restrictions this year, and will notify detailed instructions to local governments.

The guidelines contain content requesting local governments to actively reduce exemptions through ordinances by selecting areas requiring local tax reduction, such as good landlords, small business owners, and SMEs.

In addition, we plan to present specific examples, such as reducing automobile tax for medical institutions treating Corona 19 and automobiles for small businesses, and to discover and share excellent cases.

For tax items to be reported and paid, such as acquisition tax, personal local income tax, and resident tax for business establishments, the deadline for reporting and payment is extended by 6 months, and can be extended once more for small business owners, etc., which is delayed for up to one year.

We also decided to postpone the collection and disposition for arrears for up to one year, even for tax notices such as property tax and automobile tax.

We have decided to postpone the tax audit in the first half of this year as much as possible and recommend to each local government to replace it with a written investigation in the second half of this year.