Writer Meow of 'Goddess Forest' wins the cancellation of VAT... receive a refund of hundreds of millions of won

By Minjeong, Cho

Nov 28, 2025

Writer Meow of 'Goddess Forest' wins the cancellation of VAT... receive a refund of hundreds of millions of won



The meow writer (real name Kim Na-young) of the webtoon 'Goddess Forest eventually won the case after objecting to the VAT disposition of hundreds of millions of won imposed by the National Tax Service. Last year, he was embroiled in a controversy over tax evasion, and the decision of the Tax Tribunal allowed him to return the value-added tax imposed over the years.

According to a weekly Chosun report on the 27th, the Tax Tribunal cited a claim against VAT filed by writer Meow in June. It is judged that hundreds of millions of won worth of taxes imposed by the National Tax Service from the second half of 2018 to the first half of 2022 should be canceled.

The writer Meow has been at the center of controversy in 2023 when the allegations of tax evasion arose. The Seoul Metropolitan Tax Office conducted an integrated tax investigation on a corporation under the name of the writer, and took issue with the contract to provide an electronic file of 'Goddess Kanglim' on Naver Webtoon. The author did not report VAT because he judged that the electronic file was tax-free because it was 'electronic publication', but the National Tax Service judged it as taxable, considering it "Providing Services for Copyright License".




However, the Tax Tribunal's judgment was different. The judge applied the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's notification standard of "If it is a publication issued by a publisher and marked with authors and publishers, and ISBN and ISSN are granted tax-exempt". The Meow writer's corporation completed the registration of the publishing business during the serialization of 'Goddess Kangrim', and the work had already been granted ISBN and ISSN through Naver Webtoon. In the end, the taxation was canceled.

The writer Meow says, `I will continue to faithfully fulfill my tax obligations as a citizen" he said. At the time of last year's controversy, he explained that `Although the charges of private use were not admitted, some mishandled items were taxed'``````````````````````````"

Her husband Jeon Seon-wook also had no intentional tax evasion""Both couples are learning what they lack because they have only drawn cartoons.", he apologized. The writer Meow, who had been on social media for a while, resumed his activities this year, and it was my fault that I was ignorant of the fans' recent support. I will study more in the future."






mj.cho@sportschosun.com