Over 4,391 Tax Appeals in Three Months... More Than Half of Last Year's Total

Annual Tax Appeal Filings Status
4,391 Cases in First Three Months This Year, 3,563 Carried Over from Last Year
Already Exceeds Half of Last Year's Total
Includes Many Complaints on Comprehensive Real Estate Tax and Acquisition Tax

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] From January to March this year, the number of cases filed for tax appeals against tax decisions by the tax authorities exceeded 4,000. Including the carryover cases from last year that were not decided and carried over to this year, the total approached 8,000 cases. The number of appeals filed in these three months surpassed half of the 15,845 cases processed last year, which was the highest ever. In particular, the number of appeals related to the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax (종합부동산세, Jonghap Budongsanse) significantly increased, raising concerns that the government's patchwork tax policies aimed at stabilizing the market are instead provoking taxpayers.

According to data on "Annual Tax Appeal Filings" submitted by the Tax Tribunal under the Prime Minister's Office to the office of Oh Ki-hyung, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of tax appeals filed in the first quarter of this year was 4,391. Including 3,563 cases carried over from last year, a total of 7,954 cases were pending as of the end of March. This already exceeds half of the 15,845 cases processed last year.

The appeals include simple disputes such as those involving tax invoices, but also a large number of complaints about taxation due to market changes, such as in real estate. Among the other domestic tax appeals filed this quarter, which include the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax, 320 cases were received, of which 216 were related to the Jonghap Budongsanse. This number surpasses the 168 Jonghap Budongsanse-related appeals filed throughout last year. A Tax Tribunal official said, "Since the Jonghap Budongsanse tax notices are issued every November, it seems to have a significant impact."

According to the National Tax Service, the number of people subject to the Jonghap Budongsanse on housing last year was 667,000, an increase of 28.3% from the previous year. This was due to the expansion of the tax base as real estate prices rose. The tax amount increased by 42.9%, from 1.2698 trillion won to 1.8148 trillion won during the same period. There were 292 appeals related to capital gains tax, and 1,794 appeals related to local taxes such as acquisition tax and property tax. Considering that the nationwide official price increase rate for apartment complexes this year is 19.05%, three times the 5.98% of the previous year, the number of tax appeal cases is expected to increase further. In particular, since the heavy taxation on capital gains tax started this month, concerns are rising that tax resistance will intensify.

Professor Park Ki-baek of the Department of Taxation at the University of Seoul said, "The higher the house prices and the more complex the system, the more tax disputes will inevitably increase," adding, "The rapid changes in the system have expanded the scope of real estate-related taxation, and the widespread increase in tax appeals, including those for value-added tax paid by citizens, is evidence that tax resistance is becoming stronger."

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