National Tax Service Administrator Lim Gwang-hyeon said on the 12th that "the officially assessed value of high-priced dwellings held by corporations comes to 5.4 trillion won," adding, "We will conduct a full review to see whether there was any tax evasion."
Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung said at the National Economic Advisory Council on the 9th, "There was a time in the past when non-business real estate held by corporations was heavily regulated, but it seems to have disappeared now," and, directing his remarks to Presidential Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom, said, "Let's examine it as a separate item and consider a direction that imposes a hefty holding burden on real estate that corporations are needlessly holding in large quantities even though it is not immediately necessary."
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) that day, Administrator Lim said, "As of last year, there are about 1,600 corporations that hold high-priced dwellings larger than the national housing size and with an officially assessed value exceeding 900 million won." He added, "These corporations are found to hold 2,630 high-priced dwellings."
He went on, "The officially assessed value of the 2,630 dwellings comes to 5.4 trillion won." He also said, "The average officially assessed value per unit is about 2 billion won, more than 100 dwellings exceed 5 billion won, and the most expensive apartments top 10 billion won."
Administrator Lim asked, "Why would a corporation be holding high-priced dwellings?" and raised questions: "Could it be labeled as 'company housing for employees' while, in reality, the owner family is living there? Could it be being held for real estate speculation while reported as for business use?"
Administrator Lim said, "If a corporation uses them as employee housing, or if a dwelling rental corporation is leasing them out, there is no problem under the tax law. But if an owner family is living in a corporate dwelling without paying taxes, that constitutes tax evasion using non-business real estate."
He continued, "The National Tax Service will examine all 2,630 high-priced dwellings held by corporations and, if necessary, expand the review to dwellings below that threshold." He added, "For corporations holding non-business real estate with suspected underreporting, we will shift to a tax audit and collect the related taxes." He also said, "We will closely identify how other non-business real estate such as land under corporate names is being used and continue rigorous verification."