YouTube Tax Investigations Intensified, 8.9 Billion KRW Tax Imposed on 21 Individuals Last Year
Concerns have arisen as some YouTubers evade appropriate tax payments while earning substantial incomes in the hundreds of millions of KRW. In response, tax authorities have taken decisive action.
The National Tax Service conducted tax investigations on 21 YouTubers last year alone.
According to data submitted to Jeong Tae-ho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea in the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, a total of 67 YouTubers have been subjected to tax investigations by the local tax offices from 2019 to last year.
The total tax imposed on these individuals amounts to 23.6 billion KRW, with an average of 350 million KRW in taxes per YouTuber.
The total tax imposed on these individuals amounts to 23.6 billion KRW, with an average of 350 million KRW in taxes per YouTuber.
This amount includes taxes on income not only from YouTube activities but also from all income generated by the individual’s business operations.
Increase in the Number of Targeted Investigations and Imposed Taxes
Looking at the status of tax investigations by year, only 22 individuals were investigated from 2019 to 2022, while notably, 24 individuals were investigated in just 2023, and 21 individuals were targeted in the previous year.
The amount of taxes imposed has also seen a significant increase. The total tax imposed from 2019 to 2022 was 5.6 billion KRW, which surged to 9.1 billion KRW in 2023, and 8.9 billion KRW last year.
In particular, it has been reported that the average tax imposed per YouTuber investigated last year exceeded 420 million KRW.
The National Tax Service stated, "We are verifying the appropriateness of YouTuber income reporting and are responding strictly to confirmed tax evasion allegations." However, they added that they do not manage the number and amount of recovered individual revenues, such as sponsorship funds, in detail.
The recently disclosed tax investigation results only aggregate investigations conducted at the local tax office level; the actual scale of investigations is expected to be larger when including those conducted by individual tax offices.
Continued YouTube Tax Investigations This Year
The National Tax Service is conducting tax investigations on various types of internet broadcasting and YouTube channels this year.
A total of 17 related parties are included in the investigation target list, including 9 categories of internet broadcasts, such as ‘Excel Broadcasting,’ 5 gambling sites that misused deepfake technology, and 3 'cyber locker' YouTube channels.
Excel Broadcasting is a format where the internet broadcast host (BJ) performs suggestive dances or poses based on viewer sponsorships, showing the ranking of sponsorship amounts in an Excel document format to encourage competition among sponsors.
Some BJs are reported to earn over 10 billion KRW annually.
Cyber lockers refer to YouTubers who create content that sensationally distorts others' incidents or accidents to generate revenue.
Representative Jeong Tae-ho stated, "Following recent inspections of YouTubers and other individual media creators, we have confirmed cases where tax reporting for individual incomes, such as sponsorship funds, was not properly done," adding, "To prevent tax blind spots, it is necessary to encourage accurate reporting and devise measures for system improvement."
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