Cash Receipt Can Be Issued through Mobile Phone Number

Starting from next year, people with mobile phones will be able to issue cash receipts even if they do not present an additional credit card.

The National Tax Service (NTS) has disclosed on March 5 that they would include the mobile phone number into the category of cash receipt identification numbers along with the credit card number, resident registration number, and business registration number.

According to this measure, inputting one’s mobile phone number after settling accounts over 5,000 won in cash and to make one’s own identity distinguished, a customer can receive a cash receipt starting from January 1, 2005.

So far, NTS has issued cash receipts only if one shows a cash-back card, membership card, department store card, youth card, and student card, those which can prove one’s identity.

“In order to reduce the anxieties concerning privacy infringement, we have decided to authorize the manual input of mobile phone numbers as a condition of issuing cash receipts,” explained NTS, adding, “As most of the middle school and high school students, who spend small amount of money in most cases, have their own mobile phones, it has advantage of expanding the number of participants in the cash receipt issuance system.”

As of the end of February, 18 million mobile phone subscribers use SK Telecom, 11 million with KTF, and five million with LG Telecom. The number of all mobile phone users has reached 34 million.

Among this figure, the number of teenagers who possess their own mobile phone with the permission of their parents is three million. As for the cash receipts which these teenagers receive, their parents can benefit by having a 20 percent income tax deduction at the year-end account settlement period.

NTS has also considered a measure to utilize mobile phones equipped with electronic chips directly as a cash receipt card. In particular, NTS assessed that they can directly issue cash receipts if a customer places his/her mobile phone equipped with the Moneta Chip, the mobile phone credit card service of SK Telecom, close to the terminal machine, “Dong-gul,” and be authorized as a user of mobile phone card service. It has been known that one or two Value Added Network (VAN) providers have applied for NTS to begin this type of service.

Ji-Wan Cha cha@donga.com