Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has postponed the deadline for the nation’s casino operators to pay their sales taxes due to the impact on their revenues from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under Korea’s Tourism Promotion Act, all casino operators are required to pay a tax of around 10% on sales twice each year, in June and September, to the Tourism Promotion Development Fund.
In 2019, those taxes amounted to a combined KRW284.9 billion (US$251 million) from Korea’s 17 casinos, however the Korea Casino Tourism Association has reported that sales from Korea’s 16 foreigner-only casino, which excludes Kangwon Land, fell 59% year-on-year from KRW1.45 trillion (US$1.28 billion) in 2019 to KRW598.3 billion (US$527 million) in 2020. Sales at Kangwon Land, the only Korean casino at which locals are allowed to gamble, fell 68.5% year-on-year to KRW478.58 billion (US$433 million).
As a result, the Ministry this week implemented revisions to the Tourism Promotion Act Enforcement Decree allowing the tax deadline to be postponed for up to one year if any operator finds it difficult to pay the payment.
“You have to pay the payment in June and September, but if the damage is severe due to the decrease in sales, the payment deadline is deferred through deliberation,” an official said.
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