Gyeonggi Province Wins Grand Prize at Taxpayer Protection Officer Excellence Case Presentation Contest

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Gyeonggi Province won the grand prize at the "2019 Local Tax Taxpayer Protection Officer Excellence Case Presentation Contest."

The province announced on the 26th that it received the grand prize—equivalent to second place—among 12 excellent cases presented on the 19th at the contest held by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety at the BMK Convention Wedding Hall in Daejeon. The province was selected through preliminary screening and made a presentation on "submission of taxpayer protection officer opinions regarding local tax deliberation committee agendas."
With this, Gyeonggi Province has earned the honor of two consecutive years of awards following last year's excellence award in the "Taxpayer Protection Officer System Comprehensive Evaluation."

The province received high praise for expanding the scope of duties for taxpayer protection officers to submit opinions on agendas deliberated by the local tax deliberation committee, enabling more detailed review of taxpayer complaints and enhancing convenience for taxpayers.
Previously, the province completed amendments to the "Gyeonggi Province Taxpayer Protection Affairs Processing Ordinance" in April to enable the submission of taxpayer protection officer opinions regarding local tax deliberation committee agendas.
The "local tax taxpayer protection officer" is a civil servant exclusively handling taxpayer grievance complaints, tasked with resolving unlawful or unfair dispositions by tax authorities from the taxpayer's perspective, or providing assistance to those experiencing difficulties related to taxation. Following amendments to the Local Tax Basic Law in January of last year, local governments are required to mandatorily place taxpayer protection officers.

An official from the province stated, "The taxpayer protection officer is a system that provides assistance to taxpayers through dedicated handling of grievance complaints," and added, "We will continue to make greater efforts to ensure that taxpayers' rights are protected through the activation of the taxpayer protection officer system."