Songpa-gu, Special Settlement of 320 Million Won in Local Tax Arrears by Foreigners

Intensive Collection of Over 320 Million KRW in Arrears from 2,540 Foreigners by December 15... Updating Foreigners' Residence Addresses and Customized Arrears Collection by Tax Category

Songpa-gu (District Mayor Seo Gang-seok) has designated the period until December 15 as the "Special Collection Period for Delinquent Local Taxes of Foreigners" and is making every effort to collect over 320 million KRW in overdue taxes.

As of October this year, the status of delinquent local taxes among foreigners in the district amounts to a total of 2,540 individuals and 4,106 cases. Although the number of foreign residents increases every year, it is difficult to deliver tax notices and secure claims due to a lack of tax awareness, language barriers, and address changes.

According to the district, small delinquent amounts under 10,000 KRW account for more than half of all foreign tax delinquents. In particular, residents' tax, which is a relatively small amount but mandatory for foreigners residing in Korea for more than one year, accounts for an overwhelming majority of 3,117 cases, more than three-quarters of the total delinquent cases.

Accordingly, the district plans to assist their tax payments and secure overdue tax revenue through tailored delinquency management by tax category, including residents' tax, until the end of the year. From the perspective of foreign residents, there may be disadvantages such as visa extension restrictions if taxes are delinquent, so follow-up measures after tax imposition are essential.

Basically, tax notices are sent monthly to the delinquent taxpayers' addresses, and if non-payment continues, text messages are sent. To update the addresses of foreign delinquents, many of whom have different registered and actual addresses, the district cooperates with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to comprehensively organize residence information and send multilingual notices. Using KakaoTalk channels for SNS notifications will also be conducted simultaneously to prepare for undelivered notices both online and offline and encourage voluntary payment.

Tailored delinquency management is also implemented by tax category. For automobile tax delinquents, the district verifies vehicle owner information and compulsory insurance subscribers to confiscate license plates or, after contact, proceed with public auction. In cases of property tax delinquency, officials visit the property location to notify the delinquency and secure claims by suspending the statute of limitations through seizure measures.

Finally, for foreign workers with employment visas, the district investigates whether the workplace has subscribed to the exclusive insurance for departure and return, seizes insurance payments, and if collection becomes impossible due to complete departure, the case is put on hold to prevent unnecessary additional administrative efforts.

Seo Gang-seok, Mayor of Songpa-gu, stated, "We will meticulously manage the increasing number of foreign neighbors with tailored measures by tax category so that they can fulfill their tax obligations as members of our country," and added, "We hope this special collection will spread a culture of sincere tax payment among foreign residents and contribute to increasing the district's revenue."

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