Seoul City Selects 1,059 New High-Amount Tax Delinquents for Public Disclosure... Over 10 Million KRW in Local Taxes Unpaid for More Than a Year

Advance notices sent to a total of 15,696 people... Six-month opportunity to provide explanations until the end of September, simultaneous nationwide disclosure in November
Measures include switching to tax crime investigations and prosecution for those evading seizure or hiding assets

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 23rd that it held a local tax review committee meeting to disclose the list of high-value tax delinquents and selected 1,059 new individuals for public disclosure. The disclosure targets are those who, as of January 1 this year, have local tax arrears of 10 million KRW or more managed by Seoul and its 25 autonomous districts, and whose delinquency status has lasted for more than one year.

The total tax arrears of the 1,059 high-value habitual delinquents newly selected for disclosure this year amount to 81 billion KRW. Among them, 797 are individuals with arrears totaling 54.6 billion KRW, and 262 are corporations with arrears totaling 26.4 billion KRW.

Additionally, for the first time this year, Seoul included 26 individuals who have combined arrears of 10 million KRW or more across two or more institutions among those whose arrears are dispersed between Seoul and the 25 autonomous districts. These 26 individuals had previously been excluded from the disclosure list because their arrears did not meet the 10 million KRW threshold individually, and thus had never been publicly disclosed. However, with the revision to aggregate arrears across two or more institutions to meet or exceed 10 million KRW, they are now included in the disclosure list for the first time.

Going forward, Seoul plans to send prior notification letters to all 15,696 individuals, including the 1,059 newly selected disclosure targets and the existing 14,647 disclosed individuals, to provide an opportunity for explanation. Until the end of September, those who provide reasons for exclusion or pay their delinquent taxes will be exempted from disclosure. After reviewing the submitted explanations, Seoul will hold a local tax review committee meeting in October to finalize the disclosure targets and publicly release the final list on November 17.

Furthermore, starting this year, Seoul will not only disclose the list of high-value habitual delinquents but also strengthen penalties against evasion of tax enforcement. This includes cases where individuals conduct sham divorces to avoid compulsory execution of local tax arrears or transfer assets to spouses to evade tax collection, as well as those who conceal or evade assets or enter into false contracts to avoid tax enforcement. Such offenders will be treated as criminal cases, subjected to interrogation, seizure, and search, and prosecuted accordingly.

Lee Byung-han, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Finance Bureau, stated, “Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, most citizens have faithfully paid their taxes. To prevent sincere taxpayers from feeling relatively deprived due to malicious delinquents, we will impose stringent administrative sanctions such as public disclosure, travel bans, and credit information provision on high-value habitual delinquents. At the same time, we will thoroughly investigate and prosecute acts of evasion of tax enforcement and relentlessly pursue collection until the end.”

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