As the number of foreign taxpayers is surging in Korea, the National Tax Service has increased the number of offices where foreigners can receive services in English.
The National Tax Service said it has added 20 more English-language service desks for foreign taxpayers in Korea. That means Korea now has 30 such desks, 15 of which are located in Seoul.
The desks were initially installed as a pilot program in February at 10 district tax offices in areas with large demand for the services including Yongsan-gu, Samsung-gu, Seocho-gu, and Yeoksam-gu in Seoul, and Ansan, Mokpo, Gumi and Changwon around the nation.
But as the number of foreign taxpayers is on the rise and the program has received good reviews the tax agency decided to open more offices.
Districts to which the service will be expanded include: Gangnam-gu, Guro-gu, Geumcheon-gu, Namdaemun-gu, Mapo-gu, Seodaemun-gu, Seongdong-gu, Songpa-gu, Jongno-gu, and Jungbu-gu in Seoul; Seongnam, Suwon, Euijeongbu, Incheon and Pyeongtaek in the area surrounding Seoul; Cheonan; southern Gwangju; southern Daegu and Suyeong-gu in Busan.
Those desks are staffed by officials with expertise in tax issues who have also shown English proficiency. Officials say they expect that the expansion of English-language service desks will serve about two-thirds of all foreign taxpayers' needs.
According to data from the tax agency, the number of foreign taxpayers who carried out year-end tax settlements on their wages grew to 287,075 in 2007, up 168 percent from 107,622 in 2001. The number of foreign taxpayers who filed global income tax returns increased to 13,699 in 2007.
The tax agency has also published a “Foreign Taxpayers' Guide to Korean Taxes,” its first English-language collection of the most frequently asked questions and their answers. The entire contents of the book can be downloaded at www.nts.go.kr/eng (go to the “resources” section and look for “publication”).
The book will also be distributed to companies, language institutes and chambers of commerce. In addition, the tax agency also operates an English-language hotline at 02-397-1440.
The tax office plans to expand the consultation service to other foreign languages in the future.
The source of news : Korea.net July 16, 2008
