Gimhae City Seizes Hidden Assets of Delinquents Including Cryptocurrency... No Escape

Gimhae City in Gyeongnam Province has carried out the seizure of virtual currencies from local tax delinquents.

The city announced on the 17th that it seized virtual currencies worth 105 million KRW from 58 virtual currency holders who owe more than 500,000 KRW in taxes this month.

As cases of abusing virtual currencies or stocks as means of hiding assets have recently increased, the city plans to diversify asset investigations by identifying and immediately seizing virtual currencies, stocks, and deposits that can be used as hidden assets.

Accordingly, the city checked the accounts and stock holdings of high-amount delinquents at 20 first-tier banks and 15 securities firms, and after review, plans to seize 6.775 billion KRW in delinquent taxes from 138 individuals.

The city will send seizure notices to the delinquents to urge voluntary payment of the delinquent taxes, and if the overdue taxes are not paid, the seized virtual currencies will be immediately disposed of to cover the delinquent amounts.

Gimhae City Hall, Gyeongnam. [Photo by Gimhae City Hall]

According to the city, as of the end of April, during the special collection period for local tax delinquents initiated in April, the amount of delinquent taxes stood at 37.3 billion KRW, with cumulative collections reaching 8.3 billion KRW.

Until last month, seizures were made on 10,411 cases involving real estate and vehicles, and 692 cases involving claims such as national tax refunds, totaling 7.9 billion KRW in delinquent taxes.

The city plans to expand the seizure target for real estate from those owing more than 500,000 KRW to those owing more than 300,000 KRW.

For wages and accounts receivable, the number of advance notification letters sent will be doubled from twice a year to four times a year, and the total number of delinquency notification letters sent will increase from twice a year to three times a year.

For small-amount delinquents, advance seizure notification letters will be sent to encourage voluntary payment.

Han Kyung-yong, head of the Tax Payment Division, said, “In addition to the assets of high-amount and habitual delinquents that are generally checked, such as real estate and vehicles, we will thoroughly investigate virtual currencies and claims that can be subject to seizure and take immediate action.” He added, “Through this, we will foster a culture of sincere tax payment and make every effort to secure tax claims.”

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