The National Tax Service said Monday that it would encourage taxpayers to pay their taxes voluntarily by giving out notices and data beforehand, instead of taking regulatory measures afterwards.

The central tax agency called in chiefs and senior managers of regional tax offices on the day to confirm this year’s tax administration policies, according to officials. The meeting was chaired by NTS Commissioner Lim Hwan-soo and attended by Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan.

The key change is the shift from the conventional after-the-fact supervision system to a preventive one, meaning that the tax office will focus on encouraging voluntary tax payments, instead of detecting and punishing tax evasion.

“We will provide taxpayers with detailed information in advance, reminding them of documents that are often omitted or mistaken,” said a spokesperson for the NTS.

“For this, we have reinforced our database management system so that it can efficiently analyze tax-related infrastructure data and collect sales credit data from outside organizations.”

The NTS selected some 450,000 of 6 million taxpayers who delayed their value-added tax payment last year and sent out advance notices urging them to submit their documents in time in order to be exempted from the taxpaying duty.

This preemptive policy will be applied for all national taxes, including value-added tax, composite income tax, corporate tax and transfer income tax, officials said.

The tax payment promotion system is also part of the NTS’ comprehensive project to uncover the so-called underground economy and boost tax revenue ― a goal in line with the government’s creative economy slogan.

This is part of the tax office’s blueprint for reinforcing its penalties for habitual tax evaders and increasing the administrative convenience for small-sum taxpayers.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)