Over the past five years, the amount uncovered by the National Tax Service after large corporations and wealthy individuals committed tax evasion has totaled more than 21 trillion won.
According to materials the National Tax Service submitted on the 12th to the office of Rep. Kim Young-jin of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee, the number of tax evasion cases uncovered from 2020 through last year in the four priority oversight areas of the National Tax Service (large corporations and high-asset holders, high-income business operators, violations of tax law order and harm to livelihoods, and offshore tax evasion) was 12,000. The resulting assessed tax amounted to 21.1048 trillion won.
By year, cases rose from 2,570 in 2020 (4.2394 trillion won) to 2,571 in 2021 (4.3454 trillion won). In 2022 (2,434 cases, 4.0348 trillion won) and 2023 (2,187 cases, 4.4861 trillion won), the number of uncovered cases fell, but the assessed tax increased. Last year, the number of uncovered cases was 2,289, with assessed tax of 3.9991 trillion won.
By category, tax evasion by large corporations and high-asset holders accounted for 5,522 cases, or 45.8% of the total. Their assessed tax was 9.5608 trillion won (45.7%). Large corporations were caught by the National Tax Service for siphoning corporate funds through unfair transactions, transferring wealth without taxes by using irregular capital transactions and borrowed-name assets.
Tax evasion involving violations of tax law order and harm to livelihoods totaled 2,500 cases (assessed tax of 2.7341 trillion won), including usurious interest skimming by illegal lenders, omission of cash receipts at high-end entertainment and lodging establishments, and tuition skimming by arts and physical education instructors and high-fee cram school operators.
Offshore tax evasion had the fewest uncovered cases at 999, but the assessed tax was 6.7178 trillion won, the second largest after tax evasion by large corporations and high-asset holders. Major examples include omission of overseas income reports, booking of fictitious labor costs, and irregular processing of private expenses.
Kim Young-jin said, "As tax evasion methods become more sophisticated and diverse, detection is getting increasingly difficult," adding, "The National Tax Service should strengthen its investigative capabilities and analytical systems to respond sternly to tax evasion that undermines taxpayers' willingness to comply."