Incheon City Conducts 'Nation's First' Comprehensive Survey of Copyright Revenue to Collect Overdue Payments

Incheon City announced on the 19th that it has collected a total of 41 million KRW in overdue taxes from 47 individuals by conducting a full investigation into copyright trust income of local tax delinquents, becoming the first local government to do so.

Since July, the city has verified the copyright income of local tax delinquents with 11 trust institutions registered with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism over a period of five months. Then, after giving delinquent taxpayers who owed more than 500,000 KRW a chance to pay, the city seized the accounts receiving the copyright income if payment was not made.

The city confirmed that comedian A and singer B had respectively overdue local income taxes of 2 million KRW and 1.5 million KRW, and collected the full amounts.

Incheon City Hall Exterior View

Due to the nature of copyright trust income being managed and distributed through specific trust institutions, it is difficult to verify compared to regular earned income or business income. In particular, some delinquents have exploited this to hide income or convert it into other assets, leaving it as a blind spot in local tax collection.

Through this full investigation, the city overcame these limitations and created a new breakthrough in delinquent tax collection. By identifying the accounts receiving trust income held by delinquents, it became possible to seize accounts even for those owing less than 10 million KRW.

An official from Incheon City stated, "This investigation is an innovative case in local tax delinquent collection," adding, "We will continue to do our best to track down the assets of malicious delinquents to the end using creative methods and to promote a culture of sincere tax payment."