Illegal Online Gambling Operator Owes 213.6 Billion Won in Taxes... National Tax Service Publishes List of High-Value Habitual Tax Delinquents

List of 6,033 Individuals and 3,633 Corporations Disclosed
Total Delinquent Amount 6.1896 Trillion KRW...1.0583 Trillion KRW Increase from Last Year

The National Tax Service (NTS) disclosed the list of 6,033 individuals and 3,633 corporations who have defaulted on national taxes this year on the 17th. The total amount of unpaid taxes by these defaulters reaches 6.2 trillion KRW.

The disclosure targets are high-amount and habitual defaulters whose national tax arrears have exceeded 200 million KRW for more than one year as of December 31 of last year.

The disclosed information includes the defaulter's name, trade name (corporate name), age, occupation, address, tax item of the arrears, payment deadline, and details of the default. If the defaulter is a corporation, the representative of the corporation is also disclosed.

The NTS finalized the new list of high-amount and habitual defaulters for disclosure after deliberation by the National Tax Information Committee. In March, 10,564 disclosure candidates were notified to encourage payment over six months and provide an opportunity for explanation. Cases where the arrears fell below 200 million KRW due to installment payments or where appeals were ongoing were excluded from disclosure.

This year’s newly disclosed defaulters include 6,033 individuals (4.06 trillion KRW) and 3,633 corporations (2.13 trillion KRW), totaling 6.1896 trillion KRW in unpaid taxes. Compared to last year, the number of newly disclosed defaulters increased by 1,700, and the disclosed arrears increased by 1.0583 trillion KRW.

Among the newly disclosed defaulters by arrears bracket, those owing between 200 million KRW and less than 500 million KRW are the largest group with 7,465 persons (77.2%, 2.2444 trillion KRW). Those owing 10 billion KRW or more number 35 persons (0.4%, 1.4203 trillion KRW).

An NTS official explained, "Despite administrative sanctions such as seizure, public auction, travel bans, and provision of default data, high-amount and habitual defaulters have failed to pay their taxes, leading to the disclosure of their names." The official added, "For defaulters suspected of hiding assets, we are conducting searches of actual residences, filing lawsuits to cancel fraudulent transfers, and prosecuting for evasion of tax collection."

According to the NTS, the individual with the highest amount of tax arrears is Lee Hyun-seok (age 39), who operated an illegal online gambling business and owes 213.6 billion KRW in comprehensive income tax and other taxes. The corporation with the highest arrears is Giant Strong, which operated a real estate rental business and owes 44.4 billion KRW in corporate tax and other taxes; its representative, Watanabe Yoichi, was also disclosed.

Since 2006, the NTS has operated a "Hidden Asset Reporting Reward System" to locate concealed assets of high-amount and habitual defaulters. Informants who report hidden assets that contribute to the collection of arrears can receive rewards of up to 3 billion KRW.

An NTS official stated, "The NTS will actively pursue compulsory collection measures such as seizure and public auction against high-amount and habitual defaulters and strictly enforce administrative sanctions including travel bans and name disclosure. In particular, if there is suspicion of asset concealment or evasion of compulsory collection, we will conduct more rigorous asset tracking investigations through residence searches, litigation, and prosecution for evasion to continuously foster a culture of sincere tax payment."

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