Settled Adjustment Request Will Cost KBS the Right to Charge Television Fees

On September 6, the KBS television network’s legal advisor, K, who led the victorious KBS lawsuit against the National Tax Service that required the return of taxes imposed on television fees they collected, is confirmed to have sent a “certification of contents” to KBS on September 2 that says if the settlement is made according to its previous adjustment request, KBS would lose its basis to collect television fees.

K, who has represented KBS in this lawsuit for the past 10 years, said that the “adjustment” eventually was intended to admit that television fees were the “return for the broadcasting service” (or money earned through broadcasting business) and that television fees would be impossible to collect.

The Constitutional Court ruled in May 1999 that television fees were a special fee, not returns from providing broadcasting service, which, therefore, were not subject to being taxed.

K also argued in the certification that if the adjustment request is accepted, everything would go back to before the Constitutional Court ruling, which means KBS would have to pay billions of won for taxes every year, money it doesn’t have to pay, with viewers’ television fees.

“During the appeal, KBS hired another lawyer as co-counsel to submit its opinion on its behalf without any prior consultation with me and it just informed me of the co-counsel afterwards,” said K. In this regard, KBS released a statement on September 6 claiming that its adjustment request was based on the idea that a trial of attrition and protracted friction between a government office and public broadcasting would not be helpful and only lead to an extended tax dispute.

KBS also revealed that of 16 cases that the Seoul Administration Court ruled on in the first trial, KBS won only 7 cases and lost 9 cases, claiming that the press report saying that KBS collected 200 billion won for return was not true.

“In terms of money, the total amount of money that KBS requested in the first place was 233 billion won, and it won 119 billion won. With interest added, the amount would reach 270 to 280 billion won. And, also in terms of the trial itself, it was almost the same as KBS’s winning,” K refuted.

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