The National Tax Service said on the 30th it will launch tax audits into 15 multi-home rental business operators suspected of tax evasion. The alleged amount they evaded is said to reach about 280 billion won. It comes about two months after President Lee Jae-myung raised concerns about giving multiple tax breaks to multi-home rental business operators.
The National Tax Service said that it will conduct intensive tax audits of multi-home lessors who evaded rental income and reported private or improper expenses, and of companies that rented out apartments with false ads such as "discounted sales" and then sold them at high prices.
The National Tax Service has opened probes into 15 entities this time. Of these, five are corporations and 10 are individuals. The corporations are corporate rental housing operators holding 100 or more apartments in Korea. Among the 10 individuals, seven are said to own five or more apartments in the so-called Hangang Belt, including the three Gangnam districts (Seocho, Gangnam and Songpa), Mapo and Seongdong. In addition, three are said to be individuals engaged in apartment pre-sales and leasing.
They hold a total of 3,141 apartments with a publicly announced value of 955.8 billion won. Of these, 324 apartments are in the three Gangnam districts in Seoul and the Hangang Belt, with a publicly announced value of 159.5 billion won. One individual operator was found to own 247 apartments. The corporation with the most dwellings owns 764 apartments.
Among those surveyed for this tax audit, individual dwelling lessor A is suspected of failing to report 800 million won in interest income generated from jeonse deposits while renting out eight apartments in Gaepo and Jamsil. There are also allegations that overseas travel costs and luxury purchases were booked as a corporate expense.
In addition, Construction Company B recruited tenants by saying it would offer discounted sales while owning 764 apartments, but in reality did not offer any discount. The company improperly funneled about 2 billion won of the revenue thus gained to a corporation controlled by its child under the pretext of construction services.