On the 12th, Gangnam District of Seoul announced that it has collected 140 million won in unpaid local government tax this year by identifying and seizing virtual currencies (coins) held by delinquent taxpayers.
Gangnam District is investigating taxpayers who owe more than 1 million won in taxes among users of five large domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gomax, using the local government tax collection law. If delinquent taxpayers have virtual currencies in their exchange accounts, the district will seize the accounts and proceed with tax collection.
A person surnamed A had his Upbit account seized for not paying taxes. A visited the Upbit headquarters with a tax collection official from Gangnam District and, after lifting the account seizure, sold some of his virtual currencies to pay the delinquent tax of 120 million won on the spot.
A person surnamed B had delinquent payments on 19 local government taxes, including registration and license taxes, since 2020 but could not locate any assets such as deposits or real estate. Gangnam District identified and seized an account containing virtual currencies worth 14 million won. B said, "I never expected my virtual currencies would be seized," and voluntarily paid the owed tax of 1.4 million won.
Prior to this, Gangnam District had announced that it would seize virtual currencies from high-value delinquents, encouraging payment and successfully collecting 120 million won in taxes.
Last year, Gangnam District became the first among Seoul's 25 autonomous districts to begin seizing virtual currencies, collecting 200 million won. A district official stated, "The proactive measures taken by Gangnam District spread to the 25 autonomous districts, and a system was created in collaboration with the city of Seoul to collectively review and seize delinquent taxpayers' virtual currencies."
Gangnam District Mayor Jo Sung-myung stated, "Regardless of the amount, we are seizing virtual currencies without exception for long-term delinquents," adding, "We will continuously identify new types of assets to realize tax justice so that honest taxpayers do not feel relative deprivation."