Gap in Hometax Taxpayer Classification... Unable to Filter Financial Income of 48 Million Won

Although they are subject to comprehensive taxation on financial income, cases suspected to be system errors where they are not classified as comprehensive taxation targets in the National Tax Service's Hometax are causing concerns about taxpayer damage.

Believing only in the Hometax guide and not filing a comprehensive income tax return may later result in being classified as a non-compliant filer and being imposed with a significant additional tax, which is a type of penalty. However, the National Tax Service maintains that Hometax is merely an auxiliary service system. The obligation to report lies with the taxpayer, and thus the National Tax Service cannot be held accountable.

■ Tax Industry "Damage to Trust in Tax Administration"

According to informant A on the 29th, some customers of B Securities were found to have been omitted from the comprehensive taxation target during the process of filing comprehensive income tax returns through the National Tax Service's Hometax. Despite having financial income details of over 20 million won, which qualifies them as comprehensive taxation targets, they were classified as not being subject to comprehensive income tax. A stated to this paper, "In the case of taxpayers, interest and dividend income exceeds 40 million won even in the National Tax Service's internal data, but for some reason, they are classified as not being subject to comprehensive taxation on financial income."

Customer C of B Securities had financial income amounting to about 48 million won, but received guidance from the Hometax comprehensive income tax filing service that they were not a taxation target. Despite not receiving a prior mobile notification from the National Tax Service regarding comprehensive income tax targets, C personally accessed Hometax for sincere filing, only to receive incorrect information that they were not a taxation target.

The securities company in question informed customers experiencing such difficulties that "some of the financial income details normally submitted by us were omitted during the administrative processing by the tax authorities," and pre-notified that the fault lies with the tax authorities.

The issue is that financial income details are presumed not to have been omitted, yet they were incorrectly classified. Taxpayer C was able to confirm that about 48 million won of financial income was entered when checking income data on Hometax, but it was not captured as reference material when moving to comprehensive income tax filing guidance.

In the related industry, there is controversy over the responsibility of the tax authorities if taxpayers, believing only in the incorrect guidance from Hometax, miss the filing deadline and are imposed with additional tax.

An industry official pointed out, "There is ongoing discussion about who should bear the responsibility when taxpayers fail to file due to incorrect information provided by the tax authorities," adding, "If a tax investigation later claims that past guidance was merely reference material and imposes additional tax, trust in tax administration will be severely damaged."

■ National Tax Service, Securities Company Fault Assumed

In response, the National Tax Service maintains that no issues have been found in the Hometax service so far, and it is likely the fault of the securities company in question. The National Tax Service previously stated that B Securities omitted income data, and two other securities companies submitted income data redundantly.

Furthermore, fundamentally, Hometax is an auxiliary service providing convenience for comprehensive income tax filing, and the obligation to file comprehensive income tax under the Income Tax Act lies with the taxpayer, according to the National Tax Service's explanation. The National Tax Service also guided, "Since it is provided to assist in comprehensive income tax filing, please refer to it and file according to the substantive content."

Meanwhile, the Tax Tribunal's precedent states that even if a taxpayer misses the tax filing or payment deadline due to incorrect guidance from the tax authorities, the responsibility ultimately lies with the taxpayer. In a case where a taxpayer failed to file the individual local income tax on housing transfer gains on time due to incorrect guidance from a tax office employee in 2022 and was imposed with additional tax, the Tax Tribunal dismissed the appeal, stating that the tax office is not responsible for failing to guide, and the taxpayer has the obligation to file.

uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yunho Reporteruknow@fnnews.com Kim Yunho Reporter