[2024 National Audit] 250,000 Seizures of Real Estate and Bonds from Self-Employed Last Year... Shinyoungdae "Threat to Self-Employed Survival"

Disclosure of National Tax Service's Seizure Records Due to Business Tax Delinquency

Under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, the collection of overdue taxes from self-employed individuals has significantly increased.

According to data submitted by the National Tax Service to Shin Young-dae, a member of the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the total number of seizures of real estate, automobiles, movable property, and securities to collect overdue taxes from self-employed individuals in 2023 amounted to 156,903 cases. This represents a 15% increase compared to 135,971 cases in 2022.

In particular, seizures of credit card sales receivables and client sales receivables from self-employed individuals surged. The number of such seizures in 2023 was 95,091 cases, a 46% increase from 65,080 cases in 2022.

Representative Shin stated, "Recently, the Seoul Regional Tax Office seized credit card sales receivables from a business owner who had overdue value-added tax of about 15 million won less than a week after the payment deadline," adding, "Forcibly seizing operating funds, which are like the lifeblood of self-employed businesses, deals a severe blow to an already difficult business environment."

On the other hand, the performance of special collection relief programs and tax administration support systems aimed at reducing the tax burden and extending tax payment deadlines for self-employed individuals sharply declined.

In 2023, there were 1,981 applications for the special collection relief program, but only 1,364 were approved, resulting in an approval rate of just 69%. This means that 3 out of 10 applicants were not approved. This rate is also lower than the previous year’s approval rate of 73% (2,356 applications with 1,721 approvals).

The number of extended payment deadline cases for declared taxes decreased by 90.6% over two years, from 9,086,884 cases in 2021 to 3,094,538 cases in 2022, and further down to 855,724 cases in 2023. The number of extended deadline cases for assessed taxes also dropped from 1,513,100 cases in 2021 to 251,406 cases in 2023.

Representative Shin criticized, "The Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s tax collection methods are so coercive that they threaten the survival of self-employed individuals," and added, "It is necessary to revise unfair tax policies that provide tax cuts to the wealthy while imposing burdens on the economically vulnerable, and to establish practical support measures to help self-employed individuals overcome their management crises."