The National Tax Service said on the 10th that it found 6 billion won worth of assets at the homes of high-amount, habitual tax delinquents, including "60 Hermès bags," "500 million won in cash," and a "golden key." If the delinquent does not pay the full amount of the unpaid taxes, the National Tax Service will proceed with procedures to pay taxes with these items and cash.
The National Tax Service, together with metropolitan local governments, conducted joint searches of 18 high-amount, habitual tax delinquents from the 20th to the 31st of last month. At the home of a person surnamed A who had defaulted on more than 10 billion won in taxes, 60 Hermès bags were found packed in orange paper boxes. Each bag sells for 10 million to 30 million won. The price of the 60 bags found this time is about 900 million won. A 10-don golden key was also found at A's home. Considering the current market price, it is worth about 7.5 million won.
At the home of B, the head of a payment gateway corporation, 10 million won in cash and two luxury watches were found. The National Tax Service sensed something was off due to less cash than expected and B's cooperative attitude toward the search team, staked out the vicinity again, and caught B's spouse moving a suitcase. The suitcase contained 400 million won in cash, and the National Tax Service seized all of it.
C, head of a computer security services corporation, came under the National Tax Service's scrutiny after renting a high-priced dwellings on a monthly basis despite having no clear income records. A search of C's home found six luxury bags, 12 pieces of jewelry, and 41 high-end clothing items. Valued at a total of about 50 million won, the National Tax Service seized all of them.
If the delinquent pays all the overdue taxes, the National Tax Service will return the items. Conversely, if there is no intention to pay, it will proceed with appraisal of the items followed by a public sale process. An Min-gyu, head of the collection division at the National Tax Service, said, "In many cases, the amount in arrears is far greater than the value of the seized items, so there are not many cases where the delinquent voluntarily says they will pay the overdue taxes."
To manage high-amount delinquents more effectively, the National Tax Service launched a "special task force for tracking high-amount delinquents" this month. The task force is an organization that carries out, without interruption, on-site verification, tracking investigations, and collection of arrears as soon as delinquency occurs. Next year, it plans to establish a national tax delinquency management unit to check the economic living conditions of all delinquents.
The National Tax Service said, "In tracking and collecting hidden assets of high-amount, habitual delinquents, not only the efforts of the National Tax Service and local governments but also active reports from the public are important," adding, "Please refer to the list disclosed on our website and actively report."