The government decided to come up with measures to stimulate the sharing economy of space to reduce unnecessary costs. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean government held a conference on Wednesday to discuss various issues involving shared economy of space, finance, and knowledge.
The government decided to come up with measures to stimulate the sharing economy of space to reduce unnecessary costs.
For instance, sharing a parking space reserved for a local resident can be compensated for by providing as much as 50 percent of the total parking fee in gift cards.
In addition, IoT-based sensors will be installed in resident-priority parking spaces by 2022 to provide real-time parking space availability information.
The Ministry of Justice will design a standard contract template by June of this year to prevent any disputes that may arise from residence sharing.
The standard template will prevent conflicts that may arise in case there are no regulations among shared house residents, or if a resident is to be evicted based on other rules.
The government, provincial authorities, and other public institutions will open up unused spaces to the public.
By the end of the year, the government will provide an integrated system to check the availability of spaces, as well as reservation and payment services.
Also, it will open up spaces in foreign branches of national agencies to be used as shared offices for small to medium-sized firms in South Korea.
Other unused public spaces will be used for local residents, and new projects will go on trial to open up PE facilities in local elementary, middle and high schools.
Unused school buildings in 420 locations throughout the country will also be used as education centers.
The government will also allow private contracts for spaces that will be used as shared assets. In June, the government will also approve reductions in rental costs.
In the shared finance and knowledge sectors, the government will promote the expansion of shared resources.
The interest income tax rate will be readjusted to lift burdens from investors engaging in P2P financial transactions.
Currently, interest income earned from P2P investments is regarded as coming from a non-business loan, and is thereby taxed at a 25 percent rate, compared to 14 percent among conventional financial institutions.
Now, the new policy will drop the income tax rate for P2P platforms that are properly registered with the Financial Services Commission to 14 percent.
The government plans to amend the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act to allow small to medium-sized companies to participate in crowdfunding projects, and expand fund limits up to 1.5 billion won (US$1.3 million) to provide new sources of financing.
K-MOOC. (image: Yonhap)
To develop quality content for K-MOOC, an online knowledge sharing platform, the government will invite experts to participate in curriculum design and introduce paid subscription plans by 2021.
Relevant laws will be revised to issue school credits for taking K-MOOC courses.
The government also plans to build an institutional framework to support the sharing economy.
Income less than 5 million won ($4,457) will be exempt from aggregate income reporting procedures, and will be subject to simple taxation processes.
The government will expand coverage for occupational health and safety insurance benefits to include workers in the sharing economy.
By 2021, freelancers in the IT sector and other workers earning income from the sharing economy will also be able to receive occupational health and safety insurance benefits.
In the long-term, the government is hoping to expand the coverage of occupational insurance by referring to the main beneficiary as ‘the insured person’, instead of the current ‘worker’.
In exchange, joint measures will be developed to ensure that occupational insurance premiums are included in each payment given to freelancers.
“We are on our way to building a stronger institutional framework to sustain variety of shared economies in South Korea,” said Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
