'60 Trillion Won Error' Tax Office Chief Replaced as Disciplinary Action... Real Estate Tax Director Also Transferred to Budget Office

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki talking with Yoon Tae-sik, then Director General for International Economic Affairs (current Director General of the Tax Policy Bureau), at the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting held in Rome, Italy, in October last year.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee] The Ministry of Economy and Finance has made personnel changes including the head of the Taxation Office and some director-level positions. This comes just ten days after Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki officially mentioned the "revamp of the Taxation Office" on the 17th. It is interpreted as a disciplinary personnel move following last year's unprecedented tax revenue forecast error amounting to 60 trillion won. In particular, attention is focused as the director in charge has also been replaced amid the upcoming real estate tax reform scheduled for March.

As of the 28th, the Ministry appointed Yoon Tae-sik, Director of International Economic Management, as the new head of the Taxation Office. Although Yoon has previous experience working in the Taxation Office as a junior officer, he is mainly known as a 'pure international finance line' official, having served primarily in the International Finance Bureau, which is considered highly unusual. At a meeting on the 17th, Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "The Taxation Office had higher barriers compared to other offices and bureaus," and added, "We plan to facilitate personnel exchanges with other offices and bureaus to gather more diverse opinions."

Additionally, the Ministry appointed Han Kyung-ho, Director of Fiscal Management Bureau, as Social Budget Review Officer; Park Geum-cheol, Director of Property and Consumption Tax Policy, as Administrative and Defense Budget Review Officer; Shin Jung-beom as Director of Property and Consumption Tax Policy; and Kang Wan-gu as Director of Fiscal Management Bureau.

Notably, the position of 'Director of Property and Consumption Tax Policy,' overseeing comprehensive real estate tax and capital gains tax, was also replaced. The previous director, Park, moved entirely out of the Taxation Office to the Budget Office. Shin, the new director, has held key positions such as head of the Ministry’s Personnel Division and was seconded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the United States for three years starting in 2017. Recently, he served as deputy head of the Northern Economic Cooperation Committee support team before returning to the Taxation Office.

The Ministry is also expected to conduct large-scale director-level personnel changes after the Lunar New Year holiday. Inside the Taxation Office, there are rumors that the personnel changes will be on a 'large-scale overhaul' level. It is anticipated that all key domestic tax division chiefs, including those overseeing tax policy, will be replaced. In particular, if the head of the Property Tax Division, responsible for the comprehensive real estate tax, is also changed, it means that all directors and division chiefs related to real estate taxation will be replaced.

The government and ruling party have announced a major real estate tax reform scheduled for March, which will ease property tax and comprehensive real estate tax for single homeowners. This aims to alleviate the tax burden caused by soaring housing prices ahead of the announcement of official prices for multi-family housing (apartments, row houses, multi-unit dwellings) in March.

While it was widely expected that the announcement would be made in mid to late March to coincide with the official price release, some speculate that the timing could be adjusted to just before the presidential election to appeal to public sentiment on real estate.

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