Seoul District's Only 'High-Amount Tax Arrears Field Collection Team' Operates
Seizes Movable Property from Tax Delinquents Owing Over 20 Million KRW
Also Seizes Virtual Assets Like Bitcoin, Collecting 212 Million KRW
Gangnam-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Jo Seong-myeong) will conduct home searches worth 939 million KRW targeting 19 high-value tax delinquents who have overdue local taxes exceeding 20 million KRW by the end of November.
While home searches for high-value tax delinquents are mainly conducted by the National Tax Service and Seoul City's high-value delinquent task force, the district plans to utilize its own personnel to enforce strong collection measures. This is based on the district's operational capability of a high-value delinquent field collection team composed of two experts with over 20 years of debt collection experience, the only such team among Seoul's autonomous districts since 2014.
The field collection team identified individuals evading tax payments while living lavish lifestyles through interview activities. Judging that stronger measures are necessary against these delinquents, the district has formed a home search team consisting of 13 tax officials to directly seize movable property.
The district selected 67 individuals who have been delinquent three or more times and owe over 20 million KRW for investigation, then narrowed down to 19 who own real estate and high-value vehicles and have the ability to pay, proceeding with movable property seizure.
To this end, on the 4th, the team received practical training on home searches from the Seoul City 38th Tax Collection Division, and during the search process, will cooperate with Seoul City and the National Tax Service to enhance the efficiency of collection activities.
Meanwhile, in August, the district strengthened its response to tax evaders by introducing virtual asset seizure for the first time among Seoul's autonomous districts. Among 1,991 people who owe over 3 million KRW (totaling 20.9 billion KRW), an asset investigation was conducted through three major virtual asset exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit), confirming that 39 individuals held virtual assets worth approximately 450 million KRW.
The district immediately seized 280 million KRW and achieved a collection of 212 million KRW from 58 individuals. Additionally, in September, the investigation expanded to five exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, Gopax) targeting those owing over 1 million KRW, seizing virtual assets worth 60 million KRW from 35 individuals.
District Mayor Jo Seong-myeong stated, “We will establish a fair tax payment culture through strong measures against high-value tax delinquents evading taxes,” and added, “We will continue to strengthen responses to delinquents using new types of assets such as virtual assets to uncover hidden tax sources and realize tax justice.”
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