Tax Notice Received by Security Guard on Behalf... Court Rules "Delivery Effective"

The court ruled that a tax notice delivered to a building security guard instead of the taxpayer himself still has legal effect.

Seoul Administrative Court.

According to the legal community on the 12th, the Administrative Division 8 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Lee Jeong-hee) recently ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the family of Mr. A against the state, seeking confirmation of non-existence of tax liability.

Mr. A operated a nightclub from December 2013 to May 2014 but failed to pay a total of approximately 280 million KRW in individual consumption tax and education tax over four occasions from January to April 2014. Mr. A passed away in January 2015 due to acute myocardial infarction.

The tax authorities seized Mr. A’s apartment in 2014, and as the arrears continued after his death, they imposed an additional penalty of about 200 million KRW by 2022. When the apartment was put up for public auction in April 2022, Mr. A’s family filed an administrative lawsuit.

The court rejected the family’s claim that there was a procedural defect because the tax notice was delivered to the security guard instead of Mr. A. The court stated, “It appears that the residents implicitly authorized the security guard to receive mail delivered to the building as a matter of custom,” and added, “It is difficult to recognize any serious or obvious defect in the delivery process, and rather, there is a strong possibility that the tax notice for the tax assessment in January 2014 was properly delivered to Mr. A.”

Regarding the claim that the tax authorities’ public notice delivery of another tax notice, which was returned due to an unknown address, was illegal, the court found no issue, stating, “The responsible official visited the address but could not confirm the exact location.” Furthermore, the court noted, “Considering that no objection was raised regarding the seizure for nine years and the lawsuit was filed only after the public auction announcement, it is difficult to acknowledge any serious or obvious defect in the delivery of the tax notice.”

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