Gangnam District Identifies 232 Tax Delinquents and Connects 49 to Welfare Support

Suspension of Tax Disposition Increases 5.7 Times
"Recovery" Takes Priority

Seoul’s Gangnam District (headed by Mayor Cho Sungmyung) announced on May 11 that it had identified 232 households in crisis and connected 49 of them to welfare support through its “Livelihood Recovery Support Team,” the nation’s first dedicated organization for livelihood-based tax delinquents launched in February.

On-site consultation scene. Provided by Gangnam District Office.

The Livelihood Recovery Support Team views livelihood-based tax delinquents not as targets for collection, but as residents in need of recovery assistance. With a three-pronged support system—introduction of resident application, integrated on-site investigation, and an AI-powered management ledger—the team enables residents to apply for suspension of tax disposition and provides practical support through integrated investigations that combine tax, welfare, and health services. The team’s AI assistant program, “Delinquency Link,” developed in-house, combines tax delinquency data with welfare, health, and credit information to select eligible individuals and manage follow-up measures.

The district, excluding corporations, set a pool of 37,571 tax delinquents and cross-referenced their social security, health insurance, and credit information in multiple layers, narrowing down to 5,184 in the first round and 2,452 in the second. Ultimately, 232 individuals were selected for on-site investigation.

For Mr. A, who has mobility difficulties, a tax officer, welfare official, and visiting nurse conducted a joint visit. Previously, counseling, living environment checks, and health assessments would have required separate appointments, but were now completed in a single visit. Mr. A, who had refused treatment due to a neurological disorder, showed willingness to receive care after the consultation.

Mr. B, who lives alone in a container in a mountainous area of South Chungcheong Province, had a delinquency amount of 850,000 won, making it difficult to qualify as a priority under the previous system. The property in his name was of no real value due to mortgages and lease rights. The joint investigation revealed he could not leave his residence because of six pet dogs, so the district offered cleaning support and guided him to apply for social security benefits.

Mr. C, who had been paying off delinquent taxes in installments for over 16 years, lost his ability to work due to a knee injury. The district visited his residence in South Chungcheong Province to conduct an investigation and initiated a suspension of tax disposition procedures for his vehicle, which had been under seizure for more than 20 years, under Article 104 of the Local Tax Collection Act.

Mr. D, who stayed overseas after a business failure, learned belatedly about capital gains tax imposed after his land was sold at a voluntary auction. He returned to Korea in November last year after news of his mother’s critical illness and discovered his tax delinquency. Mr. D stated, “I want to become a representative case of recovery supported by Gangnam District.” He transferred his resident registration to Gangnam in April, and the district suspended tax disposition and mapped out a staged recovery path, including basic living security, emergency welfare, housing benefits, and job placement.

Of the 49 people who applied for welfare linkage in the three months since the team’s launch, 13 were already receiving social security benefits and are being reviewed for additional support, while 36 were identified as households in the welfare blind spot and are applying for new social security benefits through local community centers. Measures such as suspension of tax disposition and lifting of seizures increased about 5.7 times, from 146 cases in 2025 to 840 cases in the first half of this year.

Mayor Cho Sungmyung stated, “For residents who want to pay taxes but are struggling because their livelihoods have collapsed, what they need first is a path to recovery, not pressure. With a system in which application, investigation, and welfare and health linkage are seamlessly connected, we will continue to support recovery for livelihood-based tax delinquents until the end.”

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