▪ Countries are increasingly competing for leadership in innovative fields such as AI.
▪ This paper examines the current status of tax support for researchers in innovative fields and derives improvement measures by looking at cases in other countries.
▪ Korea’s current tax support for researchers is largely divided into tax support for employers and for researchers.
▪ (Employers): The tax credit for R&D and HR development expenses is a representative tax support to promote the employment of researchers.
▪ (Researchers): To attract core talent, income tax is reduced to encourage the influx of foreign technicians and the return of top domestic personnel.
▪ (Employers): Like Korea, major countries provide tax support for labor costs and allow limited refunds for startups and SMEs.
▪ (Researchers): Major countries provide support beyond income tax reduction to attract global talent, including low tax rates and tax-free relocation costs.
▪ To attract talent in intensifying fields like AI, South Korea provides tax support for both employers and researchers.
▪ When employers hire top researchers, the tax support for national strategic and new growth/core technologies is being strengthened. Thus, measures to improve the utilization of tax support by SMEs operating in national strategic technology fields must be reviewed.
▪ It is necessary to supplement the tax support for top researchers, as the global competition to attract such talent is intensifying.