[Edaily Reporter KWON HYE-ME ] The number of salaried workers who received tax refunds exceeding 100 million won during the year-end tax settlement totaled 195, based on figures for the previous year. The average refund per person exceeded 300 million won.

On the 6th, News1 reported that, according to data titled “Status of Year-End Tax Settlements for Earned Income (Tax Years 2022–2024)” submitted by the National Tax Service to Representative Jeong Seong-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea—a member of the National Assembly’s Finance, Economy, and Planning Committee—195 people received tax refunds exceeding 100 million won in the year-end tax settlement for the 2024 tax year. Their total tax refunds amounted to 59.9 billion won, averaging 307.3 million won per person.

The number of taxpayers receiving refunds exceeding 100 million won rose from 141 for the 2022 tax year to 171 in 2023 and 195 in 2024. The total refund amount also increased during the same period from 24 billion won to 38.9 billion won and then to 59.9 billion won, while the average refund per person rose from 170.48 million won to 307.3 million won.

Of the 21,078,535 workers eligible for the 2024 year-end tax settlement, 14,854,954 (70.5%) received tax refunds. The total tax refund amounted to 12.5865 trillion won. In contrast, 3,772,299 people (17.9%) had to pay additional taxes, totaling 4.4181 trillion won.

The top 0.1% (14,854 people) in terms of refund amounts received a total of 440.1 billion won. This averages out to 29.63 million won per person. Their total compensation (employment income excluding tax-exempt income) was 8.3807 trillion won, averaging 564.2 million won per person.

Of their 107.9 billion won in tax credits, 42 billion won (39%) consisted of foreign tax credits.

There were also quite a few salaried workers who actually ended up paying a large additional amount of tax during the year-end tax settlement. For the 2024 tax year, 1,794 people had additional tax payments exceeding 100 million won. The total additional tax paid by these individuals was 405.8 billion won, averaging 226.21 million won per person. This means that 0.05% of those who paid additional taxes accounted for 9.2% of the total additional tax paid.

If we expand the scope to the top 0.1% (3,772 people) based on the amount of additional tax paid, the total additional tax paid amounts to 561.3 billion won, or 148.81 million won per person. This accounts for 12.7% of the total additional tax paid.

The total income of the top 0.1% in additional tax payments was 4.379 trillion won, or 1.16093 billion won per person. This was more than twice the total income per person (564.2 million won) of the top 0.1% in tax refunds.

Their assessed tax liability was 1.6246 trillion won, but the tax withheld from their salaries amounted to 1.0589 trillion won—only 65% of the assessed tax liability.

The total number of taxpayers required to make additional payments and the total amount of those payments also increased again. The number of taxpayers required to make additional payments rose by 6.4%, from 3,544,553 for the 2023 tax year to 3,772,299 for 2024, while the total amount of additional tax payments increased by 10.2%, from 4.0091 trillion won to 4.4181 trillion won.

The average additional tax payment per person rose for three consecutive years, from 1,078,000 won in 2022 to 1,131,000 won in 2023 and 1,171,000 won in 2024.

Unlike those who received large refunds, the “13th-month salary” for the majority of salaried workers was in the range of several hundred thousand won.

The average refund per person for the 2024 tax year was 847,000 won, but the median refund—the amount received by the person in the middle when all refund recipients are ranked by amount—was only 367,000 won. The average is 2.3 times the median. This is the result of a small number of high-refund recipients skewing the average upward.

By refund amount, 11,079,156 people—74.6% of all refund recipients—received 1 million won or less. However, the total amount they received was 3.3548 trillion won, accounting for 26.7% of the total tax refunds.

The number of taxpayers receiving refunds between 1 million won and 3 million won was 2,984,916 (20.1%), while those receiving refunds between 3 million won and 10 million won numbered 747,658 (5.0%). Taxpayers receiving refunds exceeding 10 million won totaled 43,224 (0.3%).

Most additional tax payments were also small amounts. The number of people who paid an additional 1 million won or less was 2,987,791, accounting for 79.2% of all those making additional payments. The median additional payment was 281,000 won, which was one-fourth of the average (1,171,000 won).

The average refund per person increased from 771,000 won for the 2022 tax year to 847,000 won for the 2024 tax year, while the median refund rose from 325,000 won to 367,000 won, respectively.

Rep. Jeong Seong-ho pointed out, “The number of cases where taxpayers received refunds exceeding 100 million won or had to pay additional taxes is increasing every year,” adding, “The tax authorities need to investigate the causes of the significant discrepancy between the actual tax liability and the amount withheld at the source.”

Meanwhile, according to data submitted by the National Tax Service to Rep. Park Min-kyu of the Democratic Party of Korea—a member of the National Assembly’s Finance, Economy, and Planning Committee—in March, 258,000 people were caught claiming excessive deductions during year-end tax settlements over the past five years, from 2020 to 2024. The number rose from 52,000 in 2020 to 84,000 in 2024. The resulting back taxes alone amounted to 146.2 billion won.