YouTubers Caught Dodging Billions in Taxes
Published on | Source
Seven well-known YouTubers have been nabbed for evading around W4 billion in taxes (US$1=W1,197).
Advertisement
A National Tax Service probe has found that the seven evaded W4.5 billion in income tax. The NTS nabbed one YouTuber last year for tax dodging and six this year, fining them a total W1 billion.
The number of YouTube channels in Korea with more than 100,000 subscribers rose from 367 in 2015 to 1,275 in 2017. Many of their operators rake in a lot of money from advertising, endorsement deals and product sales but hide it from the tax man because the regulations have not yet caught up with new business models.
At present, tax officials get information from the Bank of Korea if YouTubers' advertising profits surpass $10,000 and are wired to them from Google's Asian headquarters in Singapore.
The NTS recently started systemically tracking revenues of YouTubers and other newly emerging businesses, but their income details will only be known when they file their tax returns in May next year.