 |
| gettyimagesbank |
By Lee Min-hyung
Almost a quarter of all revenues of YouTubers and one-person content creators in Korea went to those in the top 1 percent bracket, data showed Sunday.
According to National Tax Service data submitted to Rep. Han Byung-do of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, one-person creators ― including YouTubers ― reaped a total revenue of 858.9 billion won ($650 million) in 2021. Those in the upper 1 percent earned 243.9 billion won, accounting for 24.8 percent of the total.
Given that the figure is based on income tax filings, the amount will rise further when combining other earnings such as gift money sent by their fans to their personal crypto accounts.
The total number of those creators who filed their income taxes has also been on the sharp rise for the past few years. In 2019, the figure came in at 2,776, but it rose to 4,219 in 2021. Amid the growing popularity of YouTube, the tax authority created the new tax category for YouTubers in September 2019.
Their reported income also soared during the same period. In 2019, the number reached a mere 18.12 billion won, but it skyrocketed to more than 243 billion won two years later.
The number of content companies paying corporate taxes has also increased drastically to 870 in 2022 from 71 two years earlier. Their combined revenue also soared to 355.4 billion won from 32.3 billion won during the same period.
Han called for stronger tax monitoring to prevent the online influencers from evading taxes.
"Some YouTubers are receiving donation money via their personal accounts or crypto wallets, and their tax evasion scheme is getting more complicated every day," Han said. "Tax authorities should come up with measures to uncover blind spots, rather than relying on their voluntary tax filings."
![[INTERVIEW] How AmazeVR revolutionizes aespa's LYNK-POP concert](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/4431833759c44bdaa414cb314e90f2fe.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
