"Can't Pay Taxes" Tax Administrative Lawsuits Surge... Seoul Regional Tax Office Loss Rate 40%

Last Year's Loss Amount Approximately 780 Billion KRW
Attorney Fees Spend Tens of Billions KRW Annually

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The loss rate (based on amount) of tax administrative lawsuits filed against the Seoul Regional Tax Office last year surged significantly compared to the previous year, exceeding 40%. The amount lost alone surpassed 780 billion won.

According to the 'Status of National Tax Service Administrative Lawsuits since 2019' data submitted by the Seoul Regional Tax Office to Kim Tae-nyeon of the Democratic Party and Bae Jun-young of the People Power Party, members of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, among the total 504 tax administrative lawsuits amounting to 1.8651 trillion won handled last year against the Seoul Regional Tax Office, 73 cases amounting to 782 billion won resulted in loss judgments. The loss rate was 14.5% based on the number of cases, down from 15.8% the previous year, but based on the amount, it rose sharply from 24.0% to 41.9%.

As of the first half of this year, 251 administrative lawsuits (638.8 billion won) were handled, with 42 cases (225.8 billion won) lost. The loss rate reached 16.3% by case count and 35.3% by amount.

Attorney fees incurred to respond to lawsuits or tax appeals also amount to tens of billions of won annually. The amount paid under the name of attorney fees by the Seoul Regional Tax Office last year was 3.5 billion won, and about 2.4 billion won was paid by June this year.

On the other hand, the national tax refunds (including refund interest) returned by the Seoul Regional Tax Office due to lawsuit outcomes reached 892.9 billion won last year. After recording 297.1 billion won in 2016 and 806 billion won in 2018, it sharply dropped to about 326.6 billion won in 2019 but surged again significantly last year.

Other regional tax offices besides the Seoul office also incur hundreds of billions of won in tax administrative lawsuit losses annually. In the case of the Jungbu Regional Tax Office, it recorded 32.6 billion won (loss rate 15.4%) last year, but this year alone in the first half, it recorded 75.9 billion won (43.2%). The Busan Regional Tax Office also increased from 16.2 billion won (5.8%) last year to 21.1 billion won (12.3%) in the first half of this year. The Daegu Regional Tax Office's loss amount, which was only 700 million won (2.1%) last year, surged to 57.7 billion won (38.1%) in the first half of this year.

Attorney fees incurred to respond to lawsuits or tax appeals also amount to tens of billions of won annually. The amount paid under the name of attorney fees by the Seoul Regional Tax Office last year was 3.5 billion won, and about 2.4 billion won was paid by June this year.

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