Labor ministry opens free tax helpline for construction workers

The labor ministry said Tuesday that the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association will begin free telephone tax counseling for construction workers and their families on Sept. 29, extending a service that until now reached them only in person.

The program runs through December at six association offices — Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Daejeon — and follows an agreement the association signed with the Korean Association of Certified Public Tax Accountants on Aug. 31. The telephone format was chosen because construction workers often cannot attend an in-person session, given job-site hours and long distances from the offices.

Counseling covers capital gains, inheritance, gift, income, retirement income and local taxes, along with year-end settlement of earned income. The association singled out retirement income and inheritance tax questions that arise when survivors claim retirement contributions after a worker's death. The advice is limited to tax consultation and does not include tax representation, bookkeeping or the preparation of tax returns.

Eligible callers are association members, recipients of retirement contributions, and their family members or surviving relatives. They can apply on dedicated welfare-department numbers, 02-519-2095 and 02-519-2111, and after eligibility and residence are confirmed, will receive a text message with the consulting hours and contact details of the tax accountant assigned to their area.

The service builds on counseling the association has offered since 2025 on labor law and everyday legal matters. From February it worked with the Seoul association of certified public tax accountants to provide free weekly tax sessions on Tuesdays at a construction workers' rest area in Mapo District, Seoul, handling a total of 45 cases through July. Comprehensive income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax and gift tax were the most frequent subjects, and demand grew for a nationwide rollout after telephone sessions were added for workers who could not visit an office.

Association chairman Chang Geon said tax matters touch construction workers' daily lives, their property and their years after retirement, but involve enough technical detail that information can be hard to reach. "I hope this free telephone counseling service helps construction workers access the tax information they need more easily and eases their tax burden," he said.

The association plans to review consultation volumes, user satisfaction and feedback from the field to improve the service, and from 2027 to fund an expansion that would pair telephone counseling with in-person visits at each regional office.