To Consider Tax Investigation on Parents if High-Price Private Tutoring Is Not Registered

The government decided to launch a crackdown on those who have not registered as a private tutor. Especially, the government is considering tax investigation on parents who have their children receive high-price private tutoring from instructors who are not registered as a private tutor.

Ministry of Education and Human Resources (MEHR) began to take proper measures since those who have registered as a private tutor are not sufficient. All the private tutors, except college and graduate school students, are obliged to register to their own district office of education by August 7th. The National Police Agency (NPA) has already launched the collection of information on those who have received high-price private tutoring, and has informed the office of education and the revenue office.

- Crackdown plan: The MEHR plans to launch a crackdown during August and September on areas like Kangnam, Seoul, and new cities such as Bundang and Ilsan, in which high-price private tutoring is prevalent. If unregistered tutors are caught for the first time, they have to pay under 1 million won of penalty. If tutors are caught second time, they have to pay under 2 million won of penalty, and when they are caught third time, they have to pay under 3 million won of penalty or less than a year of imprisonment. The government decided to inflict disadvantages, such as imposition of heavy taxes on those who are caught, by canceling the exemption of the value added tax.

Some people critique that the government`s idea of tax investigation on parents, whose children are receiving high-price private tutoring, in order to enforce tutors to register is an inordinate idea.

The MEHR decided to establish hotlines for counseling and registration for the private tutors in the district office of education nationwide, and decided to plan a crackdown on the unregistered tutors by convening a meeting with the provincial-city education officials.

Since the constitutional court`s decision that `prohibition of private tutoring is violation of constitution`, the government has considered the elimination of high-price private tutoring and a plan of the imposition of tax on private tutors.

- Present condition of registration: 3431 private tutors have registered to the 180 district offices of education from July 9th through July 31st. 28,641 students were estimated to have received private tutoring from the registered tutors. However, this number is only 3.4 percent of the estimated number of 100,000 tutors by the MEHR.

Since the highest amount of the registered private tutoring is 0.4-0.6 million won per student per month, the high-price private tutors seem to have not registered. The lowest amount of private tutoring was 2,500 won per student per month by an elder in her/his 70s, who teaches 30 students in Daejon.

inchul@donga.com