[Exclusive] HomeTax Misses Comprehensive Financial Income Taxation Targets.. National Tax Service 'Assumes Securities Firm's Fault'

[Financial News] There is a growing concern about taxpayer damage due to cases suspected to be system errors where individuals subject to comprehensive financial income taxation are not classified as such in the National Tax Service's HomeTax.
Relying solely on HomeTax guidance and failing to file comprehensive income tax returns could result in being classified as a negligent filer and incurring significant additional taxes, which are akin to fines. However, the National Tax Service maintains that HomeTax is merely an auxiliary service system. The responsibility to file lies with the taxpayer, and the National Tax Service cannot be held accountable.

According to informant A on the 29th, some customers of B Securities Firm were found to be omitted from the comprehensive taxation category during the process of filing comprehensive income tax returns through the National Tax Service's HomeTax. Despite having financial income details exceeding 20 million won, which qualifies them for comprehensive taxation, they were classified as not subject to comprehensive income tax. A stated, "In the case of taxpayers, interest and dividend income exceeds 40 million won in the National Tax Service's internal data, yet for some reason, they are classified as not subject to comprehensive financial income taxation."
Customer C of B Securities Firm had financial income amounting to about 48 million won but was informed by the HomeTax comprehensive income tax filing service that they were not subject to taxation. Despite not receiving prior mobile notification from the National Tax Service about being subject to comprehensive income tax, C accessed HomeTax directly to file diligently but received incorrect information that they were not subject to taxation.
The securities firm preemptively informed customers experiencing such difficulties that "some of the financial income details we submitted correctly were omitted during the tax authority's administrative processing," attributing the issue to the tax authorities' fault.
The problem lies in the fact that the financial income details are presumed not to have been omitted, yet they were misclassified. Taxpayer C confirmed that when checking income data on HomeTax, financial income of about 48 million won was entered, but it was not captured as reference material when proceeding to the comprehensive income tax filing guidance.
The related industry is debating the responsibility of the tax authorities if taxpayers, relying solely on incorrect HomeTax guidance, miss the filing deadline and incur additional taxes.
An industry official stated, "There is ongoing discussion about who should bear the responsibility if taxpayers fail to file due to incorrect information provided by the tax authorities," adding, "If past guidance is dismissed as merely reference material during tax audits after providing incorrect guidance, trust in tax administration will be severely eroded."

In response, the National Tax Service stated that no issues have been found with the HomeTax service so far, and it is likely the fault of the securities firm. The National Tax Service previously revealed that B Securities Firm omitted income data, and two other securities firms submitted duplicate income data.
Furthermore, fundamentally, HomeTax is an auxiliary service to facilitate comprehensive income tax filing, and the obligation to file comprehensive income tax lies with the taxpayer according to the Income Tax Act, as explained by the National Tax Service. The National Tax Service also stated, "It is provided to assist with comprehensive income tax filing, so please file according to the substantive content," they advised.
Meanwhile, precedents from the Tax Tribunal state that even if taxpayers miss tax filing or payment deadlines due to incorrect guidance from the tax authorities, the responsibility ultimately lies with the taxpayer. In a case in 2022 where a taxpayer failed to file the local income tax on housing transfer gains due to incorrect guidance from a tax office employee and was imposed additional taxes, the Tax Tribunal ruled that the tax office is not responsible for not providing guidance, and the obligation to file lies with the taxpayer, dismissing the appeal.


uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yun-ho Reporter