"Over 10 Years, 7,760 High Earners Evaded Income Tax Amounting to 10 Trillion Won"

Yang Hyang-ja Lawmaker "Expand Tax Audits for High-Income Business Operators... Increase Collection Rate of Additional Taxes"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] It has been revealed that the undeclared income of high-income business operators over the past decade amounts to 10 trillion won.

On the 20th, Yang Hyang-ja, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, analyzed the '2010~2019 Tax Audit Results of High-Income Business Operators' received from the National Tax Service. The analysis showed that 7,760 high-income business operators were supposed to report a total income of 21.2389 trillion won, but in reality, only 11.6925 trillion won was reported.

In other words, the remaining income of 9.5464 trillion won was not reported and was detected by the National Tax Service.

The National Tax Service has been conducting regular tax audits every year since 2010 on high-income business operators deemed to have a high risk of tax evasion.

The annual income evasion amount of high-income business operators increased nearly threefold from 401.8 billion won in 2010 to 1.1172 trillion won in 2019 over the past 10 years.

The income evasion rate (income concealment rate) of high-income business operators also rose from 39.1% in 2010 to 47.6% in 2019.

The tax amount imposed by the National Tax Service on these individuals reached a total of 5.2213 trillion won over the past decade, including 203 billion won in 2010, 605.9 billion won in 2015, and 629.1 billion won in 2019.

However, the actual amount collected from the taxes imposed on high-income business operators who evaded income was 3.6101 trillion won (69.1%) over 10 years, which is a low level.

In particular, the collection rate, which was as high as 91% in 2010, gradually declined to 60.5% in 2019.

Representative Yang said, "To realize fair taxation, tax audits on high-income business operators with a high risk of evasion should be expanded, and the collection rate of imposed taxes should be increased."