Google and Facebook Users Face 10% VAT
20 June, 2019
Koreans using the premium services of online giants like Google, Facebook, YouTube or Airbnb will have to pay an extra 10 percent in value-added tax.
For instance, the W2,400 price tag of boosting the 15 GB capacity of Google Drive cloud storage to 100 GB would rise 10 percent to W2,640 (US$1=W1,176).
Google already informed users that the extra 10 percent VAT starts on July 1. Other online firms plan to charge the extra VAT from next month as well.
So far they had not paid VAT for paid services here since they do not, strictly speaking, take place on Korean soil.
Rival domestic companies have welcomed the news since it makes foreign firms' services more expensive.
One IT industry insider said, "We'll be able to gauge the sales figures of foreign online companies in Korea, which they hadn't revealed until now."
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