[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] It has been revealed that Gyeonggi Province collected a total of 58.4 billion KRW in taxes from 142 corporations that underreported real estate acquisition prices or improperly received local tax reductions last year.
The province first conducted regular tax audits on 90 corporations that either acquired real estate worth over 5 billion KRW or received local tax reductions exceeding 100 million KRW, as requested by city and county offices, resulting in a total tax collection of 53.5 billion KRW.
By tax category, acquisition tax accounted for 40.8 billion KRW, representing 76.2% of the total. This was followed by local income tax at 4.7 billion KRW (8.8%) and special rural tax at 4.7 billion KRW (8.7%). By reason for collection, underreporting accounted for 37.6 billion KRW (70.1%), non-reporting 9.2 billion KRW (17.2%), and improper reductions 6.4 billion KRW (12.0%).
In major collection cases, Corporation A, a large-scale development project operator, omitted various charges and infrastructure construction costs during land category change works and improperly reported the publicly announced land price, which serves as the tax base when acquiring state and public land free of charge, resulting in a collection of 17.5 billion KRW in acquisition tax.
Corporation B, operating a large-scale factory, was found to have excluded acquisition costs for general building auxiliary facility construction in its reporting, leading to a collection of 10.7 billion KRW in acquisition tax.
Corporation C received a tax reduction despite not qualifying as a 'startup' in substance, as the continuity and identity of the business were recognized through investor composition and funding borrowing relationships with an existing business corporation, resulting in a collection of 4.4 billion KRW in acquisition tax. Corporation D acquired real estate for use as a 'youth organization' but used it as lodging facilities, swimming pools, and wedding halls accessible to unspecified multiple users, leading to a collection of 2.0 billion KRW in acquisition tax that had been reduced.
Additionally, the province conducted irregular tax audits on 52 corporations with a high possibility of local tax evasion, including academic societies, cultural and artistic organizations, and sports organizations, collecting 4.9 billion KRW in improperly reduced acquisition and property taxes.
As reasons for collection, 17 corporations that received local tax reductions without meeting the qualification requirements under the Local Tax Special Cases Restriction Act were charged 4.2 billion KRW, and 14 corporations that did not directly use the reduced real estate or used it for other purposes were charged 700 million KRW.
Ryu Young-yong, head of the Tax Justice Division of the province, emphasized, "We will continue to conduct thorough tax audits without any gaps to ensure no tax sources are omitted, especially in corporations acquiring high-value real estate and areas prone to local tax evasion and omission, and do our best to realize tax justice."
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