Gwangju City to Operate Comprehensive Delinquent Tax Collection Period in Second Half of Year

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 14th that it will operate a comprehensive arrears settlement period from the 15th of this month to December 15th to eradicate delinquent taxpayers who intentionally fail to pay local taxes despite having the ability to pay.

During this period, in the interest of fairness to diligent taxpayers, the city plans to conduct home searches on high-amount and habitual delinquent taxpayers who evade tax payments by transferring assets under others' names and living a luxurious lifestyle. Cash will be seized on-site and used to cover the unpaid taxes, while valuables such as precious metals, famous paintings, and calligraphy will be seized as movable property and sold, with strong measures enforced.

In particular, for high-amount delinquent taxes exceeding 2 million won totaling 19.5 billion won, the city intends to strengthen various measures including asset and bond seizure, travel bans, public disclosure of names, registration in public information, and auctioning of seized items.

Additionally, Gwangju will implement various policies such as early issuance of delinquent tax notices, collection of arrears through reorganization of mortgage rights over 10 years old, seizure of rental deposits, and auctioning of real estate provided as tax guarantees after setting mortgage rights.

From the second half of the year, tax delinquency settlement teams composed of tax officials and citizens will be formed and operated in each of the five autonomous districts.

The delinquency settlement teams will encourage collection of small-amount delinquent taxes, handle on-site tasks such as vehicle license plate confiscation, induce installment payments from livelihood-type delinquent taxpayers facing economic difficulties, and coordinate with social welfare departments to provide consultations on welfare benefits.

Kim Dong-hyun, the city's tax administration officer, said, “In the prolonged economic downturn due to COVID-19, local taxes are precious resources for all citizens. We hope taxpayers with outstanding local taxes will pay before suffering disadvantages from delinquency measures.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.