Seoul City Strengthens Promotion and Delinquent Collection in 14 Languages

Special Settlement of Foreigners' Local Tax Arrears Over 3 Months

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 7th that it collected 32425 cases amounting to 1.6 billion KRW through a special crackdown on foreign tax delinquents residing in Korea from October last year to January this year, targeting foreign delinquents whose residence in Korea was difficult to verify.

Compared to Korean nationals, managing delinquent foreign local tax payers is more challenging. As of the end of December last year, Seoul alone had 83,000 foreign delinquent taxpayers, with 134,000 delinquent cases and a total delinquent amount of 16.3 billion KRW.

The nationalities of foreign delinquent taxpayers span 160 countries, with the number of delinquents ranked as follows: China, the United States, Vietnam, Mongolia, Canada, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, and Japan (as of the end of December last year).

Meanwhile, Seoul plans to produce leaflets and posters in eight languages including Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese to prevent disadvantages arising from unawareness of delinquency among foreigners living in Seoul and to promote voluntary tax payment awareness. These materials will be actively promoted through offline media as well as Seoul’s official social media (SNS) and the “Seoul in My Hand” online platform.

The city will continue to promote essential local tax delinquency knowledge and publicity for foreigners through the Seoul Foreigners Portal, Hanultari website, Seoul’s social media (SNS), and other channels, while strengthening management of delinquent taxes owed by foreigners.

Additionally, once the investigation of 4,868 delinquent taxpayers who have emigrated abroad (as of the end of December last year) is completed, the city will frequently request the Ministry of Justice to impose exit bans on those remaining in Korea, and will carry out strong collection activities such as registering credit defaults, seizing assets, and tracking their places of residence.

Han Young-hee, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Finance Bureau, stated, “As our society gradually settles into a multicultural nation and the number of foreign residents increases, we must actively prioritize customized payment guidance for foreigners to protect their rights and improve awareness of sincere tax payment.” She added, “When foreign tax delinquents occur, we will conduct specialized collection activities different from those for Korean nationals to ensure that foreign tax claims are not lost, pursuing collection to the very end.”