Sejong-si, 618 People Caught in Illegal Real Estate Transactions Including Evasion of Gift Tax

[Asia Economy (Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A large number of illegal real estate transaction offenders, including those involved in illicit gift transfers, were caught and penalized with fines in Sejong.

The city announced on the 1st that it conducted an investigation targeting 1,984 real estate transaction reporters from 2020, when apartment prices surged, to the first half of last year, identifying 618 offenders. Among them, 224 individuals were subjected to measures such as fines totaling 600 million KRW and criminal charges.

The most common violation was tax-related offenses suspected of illicit gift transfers from parents or others, accounting for 317 cases.

Other violations included delayed real estate transaction reporting (within 30 days) by 52 individuals, false reporting of contract signing dates (to evade delayed reporting fines) by 45 individuals, and reporting of inflated or deflated actual transaction prices (to evade capital gains tax and other taxes) by 11 individuals.

Additionally, the city identified 8 individuals violating the Housing Act and the Land Development Promotion Act through illegal resale of pre-sale rights, 9 individuals who entrusted their property titles to third parties, 14 long-term unregistered individuals over three years, totaling 23 violators of the Real Name Real Estate Act, 11 violators of the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act for excessive commission fees, and 133 violators of the Special Act on Real Estate Registration for neglecting registration, among other legal violations.

The city stated that there are still a significant number of cases where violations have been detected but administrative actions such as fines or business suspensions have not yet been taken due to procedural reasons. They plan to promptly conduct additional investigations and take measures according to relevant laws.

In particular, in the second half of the year, the city plans to focus on a land planning investigation targeting about 500 individuals, where there is a high likelihood of legal violations due to speculative capital inflows and share splitting.

Jo Soo-chang, Director of the Citizen Safety Office of the city, said, “The city is investigating cases that disrupt the order of the local real estate market and will take firm and strict measures upon detection. We also ask for the active cooperation of citizens to eradicate illegal real estate transactions and speculation aimed at compensation.”

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