[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won] Jeju Special Self-Governing Province has taken a strong measure to forcibly sell a golf course with long-term tax arrears amounting to 10 billion KRW.
According to Jeju Province on the 1st, to collect the overdue amount from one golf course that has long overdue local taxes, they requested the Korea Asset Management Corporation to auction off the entire golf course land.
This decision to auction reflects a strong will not to wait passively for a recovery plan such as attracting investment to the golf course itself and normalizing management.
The province plans to realize tax justice by strictly collecting overdue taxes through forced sale measures and by sounding an alarm to golf courses showing moral hazard.
The sale target is Golf Course A located in the Seogwipo area, where the overdue tax amount has exceeded 10 billion KRW due to long-term arrears since 2014.
Golf Course A, operated on a membership basis, had planned to pay the overdue amount by implementing management normalization measures such as financial loans to resolve liabilities including the refund of membership fees.
However, due to the high uncertainty of the self-help measures, a history of delayed payment of overdue taxes, and failure to fulfill payment obligations despite having the capacity due to a surge in golf course users, the decision was made to proceed with the auction.
This sale differs from previous partial sales such as auctioning the original preservation land (forest land) or non-course land (sports land) of the overdue golf course, as it involves selling the entire site to find a new owner quickly, induce prompt management normalization, and secure sound local fiscal management.
The auction of the golf course requested to the Korea Asset Management Corporation will have the sale price determined through an appraisal, followed by a public auction notice and bidding procedures.
Meanwhile, there are five golf courses with overdue taxes in Jeju Province; among them, one is under court rehabilitation, one is closed, and the remaining three are membership golf courses with increasing overdue amounts due to deficit management.
Jeju Province has conducted auctions of non-course land (one site) and suspended groundwater facilities (two sites) this year to collect overdue golf course taxes.
Additionally, through business site searches, seizure and collection of accounts receivable, deposits, and securities, 5.3 billion KRW of overdue taxes have been collected, with the goal of collecting all overdue golf course taxes by next year.
Heo Beom-yul, Director of the Planning and Coordination Office of the province, said, “We plan to simultaneously pursue management normalization and finding new owners for golf courses with tax arrears to quickly lead to normalization and induce full payment of overdue taxes.”
Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won captain@asiae.co.kr
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