"Registering Business Under Spouse's Name to Evade Local Taxes"... Gyeonggi-do Uncovers Malicious Tax Delinquents

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

A malicious tax delinquent who attempted to evade local tax payments of over 180 million KRW by registering a business under the names of their spouse and others was caught in an investigation by Gyeonggi Province.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 16th that from February to April, it investigated 1,274 individuals who owed more than 100 million KRW in local taxes, along with their family members and special relations, examining the relevance of business locations, industries, and trade names, and identified the malicious tax delinquent Mr. A.

Anticipating forced execution due to a local income tax delinquency of 180 million KRW, Mr. A closed the business he operated and engaged in fraudulent activities by registering one sole proprietorship and two corporate businesses under the names of his spouse and special relations, or by directly managing registered businesses.

Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province issued a fine of 20 million KRW to Mr. A for lending business registration to evade local taxes and forced execution. The fine notice is an administrative action that exempts punishment if the fined amount is paid within a specified period. If Mr. A fails to pay the fine within the deadline, Gyeonggi Province plans to report him to the competent prosecution office and will also cooperate with the relevant city to collect the delinquent amount separately.

No Seung-ho, Director of the Tax Justice Division of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "High-amount tax delinquents who evade local tax payments by registering businesses under the names of family members and special relations and using them for business operations are clearly violating the law. We will continue to investigate to ensure that no more delinquents abuse business registration, and do our best to eradicate tax-related fraudulent activities in Gyeonggi Province."

Meanwhile, to enhance fairness in tax burden, Gyeonggi Province is the only local government nationwide to have established a dedicated task force for investigating penal cases, conducting investigations into penal violations every year. Unlike general tax audits aimed at tax collection, penal case investigations are judicial in nature, conducted to report clear legal violations such as tax evasion and asset concealment to investigative agencies for the purpose of applying penalties such as fines or imprisonment.

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