Former Baseball Players and 7,016 High-Value Tax Delinquents Disclosed... Emsonsoft CEO Owes Hundreds of Billions

National Tax Service Publishes List and Personal Information on Website
Im Man-hee of 'Shincheonji Jesus Church' Fined 180 Million Won in Gift Tax

Former baseball player Yoon Sung-hwan (Photo by Samsung Lions)

[Sejong= Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyun-jung] The National Tax Service (NTS) disclosed on the 16th the list of high-amount and habitual tax delinquents who have overdue national taxes of over 200 million KRW for more than a year, including former baseball player Yoon Sung-hwan. The number of newly confirmed delinquent taxpayers subject to disclosure reached 7,016, with a total outstanding tax amounting to 5.3612 trillion KRW. This represents an increase of 51 people and 540.9 billion KRW compared to the previous year.

◆Highest individual tax delinquency: Software development company CEO with 153.7 billion KRW= The individual with the highest tax delinquency is Kang Young-chan, who operates the software development company Emsonsoft, owing 153.7 billion KRW in comprehensive income tax and other taxes. Following him is Kim Hyun-gyu, who operated the BHC Hongdae Seogyo branch, with a delinquency of 132.9 billion KRW. Kim did not pay value-added tax due to running an unregistered gambling business and is currently no longer operating the BHC Hongdae Seogyo branch. Others on the list include Choi Sung-moon, Park Seung-bae, Kim Jung-woo, Hwang Jong-deok, Kim Jung-seok, Lee Jae-hoon, Lee Cheon-seong, and Lim Jeong-bin, whose occupations ranged from gambling and betting businesses, entertainment bars, retail, service industries, to company employees.

Although not in the top 10 by delinquency amount, former professional baseball Samsung Lions pitcher Yoon Sung-hwan (40) was also named on this disclosure list for owing about 600 million KRW in comprehensive income tax. Yoon, who holds the record for the most wins in Samsung Lions history with 135 wins and ranks 8th in all-time wins in Korean professional baseball, has been embroiled in controversy over illegal gambling and match-fixing, and now it has been revealed that he also owes a large amount of taxes.

Among corporations, Sho Onan Seaside Development Co., Ltd. (CEO Hirata Takiko) topped the list with 35.8 billion KRW in unpaid corporate taxes. This Japanese company was disclosed for failing to pay taxes on income generated domestically. Other companies in the top 10 include JP Holdings PFV Co., Ltd., JP Holdings Co., Ltd., Gangho DOR Co., Ltd., Power Fine Limited, Profit International Co., Ltd., Philip Asset Co., Ltd., Maple Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Dain Construction Co., Ltd., and Agricultural Corporation Yuwon Limited Company. Their industries varied from construction, service, finance and insurance, to agriculture.

◆List of insincere donation-receiving organizations including Shincheonji disclosed= The NTS also disclosed organizations that issued false donation receipts or failed to prepare and keep donor-specific issuance details, and those penalized for non-compliance with the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act (IGTA). The IGTA stipulates that the value of assets received by public interest corporations as contributions should not be included in the taxable amount for gift tax.

However, if the contributed assets are used for purposes other than public interest projects, operated for profit, or if the proceeds from the sale of contributed assets are used to purchase shares of domestic corporations, these are considered violations of legal obligations, and taxes are levied accordingly.

The disclosed list includes 12 organizations that were penalized for more than 10 million KRW in taxes due to violations of the IGTA.

Shincheonji Church of Jesus was included on the list for being penalized 182 million KRW in gift tax due to IGTA violations. The Injon Scholarship Welfare Foundation and the Dure Cultural Village Foundation were also penalized 188 million KRW and 74 million KRW respectively for similar violations. Among the disclosed organizations, 22 issued false donation receipts five times or more or exceeding 50 million KRW, and 3 failed to prepare and keep donor-specific issuance details.

Regarding donation receipts, Ulsan Beopusa, Gwangju Jesus Korea Church, Andong Chamseon Yoga Seonwon in Gyeongbuk, Jeongjin Seonwon in Sunchang, Jeonbuk, and Korean United Pentecostal Church in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province were included on the list.

◆73 tax evaders... averaging 1.7 billion KRW each= The names, business names (corporate names), ages, occupations, addresses, evaded tax amounts, tax types and amounts, summaries of judgments, and sentences of 73 tax evaders were also published on the NTS website. The total evaded tax amount was 126.2 billion KRW, averaging about 1.7 billion KRW per person. As a result of criminal trials, 69 of them were sentenced to imprisonment (15 actual prison terms, 54 suspended sentences), and 4 were fined.

Among them, Kim Sung-gon, who operates Number One Travel Agency and 100 Percent Travel Agency located in Jung-gu, Seoul, had the highest evasion amount of 11.295 billion KRW. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison and fined 15.3 billion KRW for evading value-added tax and corporate tax by inflating purchase amounts through issuing false tax invoices.

Kim Man-bok operated an illegal internet gambling site without registering a business and received deposits through a borrowed-name account, failing to report sales, thereby evading 4.68 billion KRW in VAT and comprehensive income tax. He was sentenced to 2 years in prison with a 3-year probation and fined 22.6 million KRW.

Additionally, operators of entertainment bars 'Goguryeo' and 'Gallery' in Busan were sentenced to imprisonment for embezzling cash sales or managing them through borrowed-name accounts.

Meanwhile, the list of disclosed individuals was finalized after review by the National Tax Information Committee on the 12th of last month. The NTS had notified those scheduled for disclosure in March, encouraging payment over six months and providing opportunities for explanation. Cases where the overdue national tax fell below 200 million KRW due to installment payments or where appeals were ongoing were excluded from the disclosure list.

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