"How much do YouTubers earn"... 21 YouTubers paid over 400 million won in taxes

[Financial News]  Tax authorities have launched a tax investigation targeting some YouTubers who are criticized for not paying taxes properly despite earning billions. Last year's tax investigation revealed that the taxes paid by YouTubers exceeded 420 million won per person. 

According to data released on the 14th by Jeong Tae-ho, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party, who received it from the National Tax Service, it was found that 67 YouTubers were investigated by the local tax office from 2019 to last year.

The total tax imposed by the National Tax Service over the past six years was 23.6 billion won. On average, it is about 350 million won per YouTuber. It includes the amount imposed on YouTuber income as well as the tax imposed on all income generated from the business operated by the respective business owner.

By year, the number of tax investigation targets increased significantly from a total of 22 people over four years from 2019 to 2022 to 24 people in just 2023. Last year, 21 people were also investigated.
The imposed tax amount also increased from a total of 5.6 billion won from 2019 to 2022 to 9.1 billion won in 2023, and 8.9 billion won last year.

Last year alone, the average tax imposed per person exceeded 420 million won.

The National Tax Service stated, "We are rigorously responding by verifying the appropriateness of YouTuber income reporting and confirming evasion suspicions," while also noting, "However, we do not specifically manage the number and amount of cases related to individual income such as donations."

This YouTuber tax investigation result is a summary of local tax office unit investigations, and it is estimated that the number would be even higher if individual tax office investigations were included.

Jeong Tae-ho said, "Recently, it has been confirmed that tax reporting on individual income such as donations is not being properly conducted for YouTubers and other one-person media creators," and added, "There is a need to encourage honest reporting and prepare measures to supplement the system to prevent tax blind spots."

y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter