As the government announced a tax reform plan to differentiate the benefits of comprehensive real estate tax and capital gains tax for single homeowners depending on whether they actually live or not, there are growing voices pointing out loopholes in the policy among non-resident single homeowners. It is pointed out that the "non-residential exception requirement", which is a prerequisite for tax benefits granted to single homeowners, was too narrow and turned a blind eye to reality.

According to the Public Participation Legislation Center of the Ministry of Legislation on the 14th, the number of legislative opinions received on the revision of the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Act and the Income Tax Act recorded 10,000 cases as of 1:40 p.m., surpassing 10,000 cases for the first time in history. It is unusual that more than 10,000 opinions have been raised within a short period of time on the issue of a single legislative notice.

Raising the issue is particularly focused on the effectiveness of the 'non-resident exception requirements'. The core of the tax reform plan is the stipulation of "actual residence obligation" as a prerequisite for the comprehensive real estate tax credit and the special deduction for long-term transfer tax (up to 80% each). The government has prepared an exception clause that considers non-residential as real residence for up to three years on the premise of "pre-residential for more than a year" if there is an inevitable reason. Reasons for recognition included children's attendance at high school and university, change and transfer of work, treatment and care for more than a year, transfer due to school violence, stay abroad, and direct ancestor worship over the age of 60.

The problem is that the scope of exceptions set by the government is too narrow, which is far from reality. In fact, Mr. A, who moved his address to build a rice farm of about 4,958 square meters (1500 pyeong) in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do after retirement, is strongly demanding "recognition of actual residence" when he is on the verge of being classified as "non-resident" even though his spouse resides in the only house in Busan. In addition, B, the head of a family of five with three children, also complained, "It is unfair to lease a small house owned to raise multiple children and to equate moving to a wider jeonse house with non-residential for speculative purposes."

Mr. C and two adult children each own one house and live in each other's homes without rent due to problems such as work and children's education, but all of them are likely to be excluded from tax-free benefits under the current exceptions.

The uniform standard of actual residence for inherited housing has also emerged as a key factor causing tax friction. D, who shares the stake by jointly inheriting a single house by three families, said, "Some of the stakeholders are turning a blind eye to the reality that they have no choice but to live in a rented house in another country for reasons such as livelihood," adding, "Forcing even joint heirs who split their shares to live is an excessive infringement on property rights."

E won the application for an apartment in Seoul, but he was assigned to the province before moving in and did not even have a chance to meet the one-year election owner requirement in the first place. As there are tenants in redevelopment and reconstruction, opinions continued to be asked to ease this, saying that they had not met the election owner requirements for more than a year before the management and disposal plan.

As a result, it is pointed out that the government is forcing individual households to stay in the country, ignoring the inevitable circumstances of individual households. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said on the same day, "The government's 'actual residence obsession policy' should be thoroughly reviewed," adding, "In fact, it is a situation that violates the people's freedom to move to residence."

In addition, Democratic Party lawmakers also reportedly insisted on granting exceptions to non-residential requirements at the general meeting of lawmakers. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Koo Yoon-chul said, "We will listen to more people's opinions and review them as flexibly as possible."

[Reporter Na Hyunjun]