Busan City, Realizing Tax Justice ... Strengthening Collection from High-Amount Delinquents

Nation's First Anonymous Prepaid Card and Conversion System Established

Seizure, Collection, and Recovery of Real Estate, Deposits, Insurance, and Virtual Assets

Busan City reported that it searched the homes of five high-amount tax delinquents (with a total delinquent amount of 912 million KRW) who have the ability to pay but are deliberately evading payment, seizing 50,000 KRW new bills, anonymous prepaid cards, department store gift certificates, and other items on site, collecting 20 million KRW.

High-value tax delinquent's home search site.

In particular, the city recently succeeded in establishing a cash conversion system for the anonymously prepaid cards and gift certificates seized for the first time nationwide and converting them into cash. Of the 20 million KRW seized and collected this time, about 5 million KRW worth was converted from non-cash items into cash through the cash conversion system.

In response to the continued increase in local tax (city tax) delinquency due to economic recession caused by high interest rates, the city has set local tax delinquency settlement periods in the first and second halves of the year and is strengthening collection activities against delinquents through vehicle license plate confiscation, wage garnishment, deposits in escrow, and other measures.

Especially, to realize tax justice, the city is conducting property seizure and public auction for high-amount delinquents, seizing and collecting financial assets such as deposits, insurance money, virtual assets, and convertible bonds, providing public record information, imposing travel bans, disclosing names, and conducting home searches. It has also organized a local tax violation investigation team to strengthen collection activities against hidden assets and fraudulent acts by filing provisional injunctions and cancellation lawsuits against fraudulent acts using false sales or provisional registrations for delinquency disposition.

Fraudulent acts refer to actions where a debtor intentionally reduces their assets or increases their debt to make it difficult to repay creditors.

However, for temporary or livelihood-related delinquents, the city promotes a cooperative tax collection policy by encouraging installment payments to restore tax payment ability, temporarily returning confiscated license plates, and deferring delinquency disposition to provide economic recovery opportunities.

Busan City operates online payment systems such as payment via an automatic response system (ARS) and bank automated teller machines (ATM) for tax collection and taxpayer convenience, and also implements a KakaoTalk delinquency comprehensive notification system using KakaoPay and other services.

Kim Hyo-kyung, the city’s finance officer, stated, “We will continue home searches for high-amount delinquents who hide assets and live luxuriously, and from next year, we will implement joint home searches with city, district, and county authorities to expand and strengthen collection activities against high-amount delinquents. We will do our best to realize tax justice by thoroughly tracking and collecting hidden assets of unscrupulous delinquents who deliberately evade payment despite having the ability to pay, alleviate the relative deprivation felt by sincere taxpayers, and implement tax administration that resonates with citizens.”