According to the 2023 Population and Housing Census, Korean households recorded approximately 22.07 million. Among them, single-person households accounted for 7.82 million and it consists of 35.4%, and it has gradually been increasing every year. M...
According to the 2023 Population and Housing Census, Korean households recorded approximately 22.07 million. Among them, single-person households accounted for 7.82 million and it consists of 35.4%, and it has gradually been increasing every year. Most small-scale officetels are utilized as rental housing for single-person households. In late 2024, over 1.28million officetels have been supplied, and most of their owners have a purpose to rent housing rather than to gain some capital margin from transfer. In fact, about 83% of all officetels are currently used for rental housing. Unlike some buildings which are already confirmed for a specific use, officetels are defined as a business facility under the Building Act, and they are set as a quasi dwelling building, which means office facilities that could be utilized as a housing facility as a building and its attached land except for a house under the Housing Act. In addition, under Tax Law, the classification of officetels depends on the use, whether it becomes office when it is being used for working space or it becomes a house for residential space.
The various usage classification on officetels under the Building Act, Housing Act, and Tax Law makes taxpayers confused. Since officetels are mainly used for office space and some of its part could be used for housing, it is the irrationality that their classification as a residential space depends on selection of the users, so that it leads to dispute between tax authorities and taxpayers regarding the factual determination. As a result, the tax authorities overuse their administrative endeavors and taxpayers feel unfair taxation.
This study suggests a measure to establish a unified taxation framework for officetels. Under the Building Act, the officetels, which are mainly used for office work and could be utilized as housing, is divided into small-scale studio type officetels that could be always utilized as office of housing facilities and residentially purpose constructed medium to large-scale officetels. This study presents that a legal principle should be regulated, in which if the small-scale officetels (under 40㎡) are leased as a quasi dwelling facility it is not included into the number of houses. Exceptionally, when the owner resides at the place and proves their residential use, they should be counted as housing unit taxation. It should be a principle that the medium to large-scale officetels (over 40㎡), which are actually sold for residential purposes, should be included as the number of houses. Exceptionally, it is necessary to revise the taxation system so that the officetel would be regarded not as a house but as a general guilding when the owner uses and proves the place as a work place.
Unlike apartments, predictability and legal security of officetels lack so significantly that tax disputes have taken place relentlessly between taxpayers and taxation authorities. It occurs not because criteria on housing are absent but because a clear definition of a house within tax legislation is obscure, so that this study suggests that Article 152 (4) of the Enforcement Decree of the Income Tax Act, which says “housing structure prescribed by Presidential Decree” should be amended into “a unit must have a separate entrance, a bathroom, a kitchen, and at least one bedroom as a residential structure for a household.”
Related regulations should be revised in order to decide whether the officetel is for housing-purpose or not by dividing officetels into small-scale officetels, where a room and a kitchen are not distinguished for any purposes of office or housing, and medium to large-scale officetels, where a room and a kitchen are distinguished for a purpose of housing. These legally defined regulations could remove the disputes from officetels for both tax authorities and taxpayers.