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Busan Metropolitan City and Busan Regional Tax Office Present a Pioneering Busan Model for Welfare-Tax Administration Cooperation

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Chun Jae-soo) announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Busan Regional Tax Office to identify and support households facing welfare crises at 10:30 a.m. yesterday (October 26) in the International Protocol Room at Busan City Hall.

The signing ceremony was attended by representatives of both organizations, including the Director-General of the Social Welfare Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City and the Director-General of the Tax Collection and Litigation Bureau of the Busan Regional Tax Office. Both parties pledged mutual cooperation in identifying and supporting households facing welfare crises, including taxpayers with livelihood-related tax arrears.

The agreement was established to proactively identify signs of welfare crises, such as serious illness, unemployment, deteriorating housing conditions, and the risk of dying alone, which are difficult to detect through the city's existing big data-based system covering 49 categories of information, including electricity and water service disconnections, and to connect affected households with necessary assistance.

Busan Metropolitan City plans to further strengthen its system for identifying and supporting households facing welfare crises by combining its comprehensive social safety net with the community-based field infrastructure of the Busan Regional Tax Office's Tax and Non-Tax Revenue Arrears Management Team, which has 1,581 members and has been conducting on-site assessments since its launch in August.

Under the agreement, the two organizations will fully implement three key initiatives designed to bridge the divide between tax administration and social welfare services.

First, the Tax and Non-Tax Revenue Arrears Management Team will serve as "Welfare Messengers." When team members identify signs of welfare crises during household visits or telephone assessments involving taxpayers with outstanding payments, they will report them through the Welfare Crisis Alert App and to the relevant officials in eup, myeon, and dong administrative districts. To facilitate this process, a network has been established connecting officials in 206 eup, myeon, and dong administrative districts across Busan with their counterparts at nine tax offices.

Second, the two organizations will provide integrated welfare and tax administration support under the Busan model. Administrative Welfare Centers in eup, myeon, and dong will consult with identified individuals to determine their needs and consider providing tailored welfare services, including emergency welfare assistance. The Busan Regional Tax Office will help taxpayers with livelihood-related tax arrears achieve meaningful financial recovery by connecting them with tax relief measures, including the extinguishment of obligations to pay outstanding national taxes and the deferment of delinquent tax collection procedures.

Third, Busan Metropolitan City will strengthen its capacity to identify households facing welfare crises. The city will provide training to members of the Tax and Non-Tax Revenue Arrears Management Team on welfare programs and methods for identifying households in crisis, enabling field personnel to serve as part of the community-based human network supporting the social safety net.

Meanwhile, Busan Metropolitan City proactively identifies and supports households facing crises five times a year through its Welfare Blind Spot Identification System.

The system identifies households in crisis by collecting and analyzing 49 categories of big data related to vulnerable populations, including electricity and water service disconnections and overdue national health insurance premiums. As of September 2026, the city had identified a total of 77,824 people and provided tailored services to 41,423 of them.

In addition, the city operates a continuous reporting and management system through the Welfare Crisis Alert App and is strengthening its system for identifying households in crisis by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI)-based initial consultations.

The Welfare Crisis Alert App has 12,794 registered users in Busan, accounting for 12 percent of all registered users nationwide. The mobile application addresses limitations of the existing identification system, such as delays in data collection and provision, by allowing any citizen to easily report welfare crises affecting themselves or their neighbors.

The AI-based initial consultation system uses scenario-based artificial intelligence technology to conduct telephone consultations with individuals identified through the Welfare Blind Spot Identification System. The process begins with an advance text message (SMS), followed by an AI-based initial consultation call, the provision of initial consultation results to local governments, in-depth consultations conducted by responsible public officials, and the provision of welfare services.

Hwang Soon-gil, Director-General of the Social Welfare Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, "We expect the field activities of the Tax and Non-Tax Revenue Arrears Management Team, which directly visits households facing crises, to make a significant contribution to eliminating welfare blind spots in Busan."

He emphasized, "This agreement goes beyond simply identifying households in crisis. By linking the city's welfare capabilities with the tax administration support provided by the National Tax Service, it will establish a pioneering model for welfare-tax administration cooperation that helps residents achieve genuine financial stability and economic recovery."