Young people aged 19∼34 can enroll in the Youth Future Savings. Those who have completed military service can enroll up to age 40. The scope of production workers eligible for tax exemption on night-work pay will also be expanded. Due to a temporary liquor tax cut, highball prices will be about 15% cheaper starting this year.

The Ministry of Finance and Economy on the 16th announced a ‘2025 Tax Reform Follow-up Enforcement Decree Amendment’. This amendment to the enforcement decree is a follow-up measure to the 2025 tax reform plan that passed the National Assembly late last year.

Under the amendment, anyone aged 19 to 34 with a total salary of 75 million won or less can sign up for the Youth Future Savings. For those who complete military service, up to six years of service are excluded from the age calculation, allowing enrollment up to age 40. Young small-business owners with sales of 300 million won or less in the previous taxable year are also eligible. The product is scheduled to launch in June this year, and if maintained for at least three years, interest income on up to 6 million won in annual contributions will be tax-exempt.

The monthly wage threshold for production workers whose night-work allowances qualify for tax exemption has been raised from 2.1 million won to 2.6 million won or less, reflecting increases in the minimum wage and other factors. The total annual salary threshold was also raised from 30 million won to 37 million won or less. To date, the government has provided tax exemptions on overtime and night-work allowances for factory and mine workers, fishery workers, and beauty and lodging service workers.

The criteria for ‘weekend couples’ eligible for a monthly rent tax credit have also been clarified. Starting this year, for both the head of household and the spouse to each receive the credit, their registered addresses must be in different cities, counties, or districts, and lineal relatives living with the spouse, such as children and parents, must be non-homeowners. Until now, only the head of household could claim the monthly rent tax credit, but the scope has been expanded to reflect the living conditions of dual-income couples.

Benefits for large families are also being enhanced. Previously, only homes of up to 85㎡ in the Seoul metropolitan and urban areas and up to 100㎡ in other areas qualified for deductions, but for households with three or more children the cap is expanded to 100㎡ nationwide without regional distinctions.

Special-type workers such as insurance planners and parcel delivery drivers who have resumed work after closing their businesses can also receive special collection relief for arrears. If they are enrolled in employment insurance and have paid premiums for at least three months, they become eligible for installment payment of arrears or exemption from late-payment penalties.

The criteria for extinguishing payment obligations to aid livelihood-type delinquent taxpayers in hardship have also been newly refined. Going forward, business operators whose average income for the three years before closure is less than 1.5 billion won will not have to pay arrears deemed hard to collect of 50 million won or less.

For mixed alcoholic beverages with low alcohol content such as highballs, the liquor tax will be reduced by 30% from April this year through December 2028. The scope of the reduction delegated to the enforcement decree covers beverages with alcohol content of 8.5 or less and with 2 or more of nonvolatile sugars such as fruit sugars. Taking into account the 72% liquor tax rate, education tax, value-added tax, and so on, a 30% liquor tax cut would translate into an approximate 15% reduction in consumer prices, a Finance and Economy Ministry official explained.

The scope of dividend income eligible for separate taxation benefits is limited to cash dividends. The intent is to strengthen benefits that shareholders actually receive. Stock dividends are excluded, but dividend equivalents received for lending shares through securities firms and similar channels (stock lending transactions) are included.

Securitization specialty companies such as investment companies and real estate investment companies (REITs) that distribute most of their profits as dividends and receive corporate tax benefits are excluded from the separate taxation of dividend income. Even companies posting a net loss can receive the separate taxation benefit if they increase their cash dividends by 10% or more from the previous year and have a debt ratio of 200% or less.

The criteria for clawing back tax reductions for corporations that relocate their headquarters to non-metropolitan regions will also be eased. To prevent ‘cosmetic’ relocations, the allowable share of personnel in Greater Seoul offices is lowered from 50% to 40%. In addition, reshoring companies returning from overseas can receive tax reduction benefits if they first establish or expand domestic business sites even before downsizing their overseas operations.