A doctor walks through a hallway at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital on Aug. 21, 2020, as trainee doctors start a walkout to protest the government’s medical sector reform measures. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Korea Bizwire) – Doctors rank at the top in terms of average income among professionals in South Korea.
According to data that the National Tax Service submitted to the National Assembly on Tuesday, the incomes of individual medical business owners totaled 16.5 trillion won in 2018, with per-capita annual income averaged at 226.4 million won (US$199,225).
Professionals engaged in individual medical businesses are doctors (hospitals), dentists (dental clinics) and oriental medicine doctors (oriental medical clinics).
Next on the list were lawyers, with an average business income of 115.8 million won, accountants at 98.3 million won and patent attorneys at 79.2 million won.
Even based on 2015 to 2018 business income data (excluding the year 2016), professionals running individual medical businesses ranked first in terms of business income.
Given that such professionals have the practice of writing off the goods and services they personally use as expenses, their actual level of business income is believed to be higher than the reported income.
The tax agency, however, said that it’s difficult to tally the accurate amount of their business incomes due to the difference in employment of workers by business type, as well as the fact that there are some who don’t have to report aggregate income.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
