Suncheon City Creates and Sends Foreign Language Notices for Overdue Tax Response

Providing Information on Payment Methods Through Collaboration with Related Organizations

Exterior view of Suncheon City Hall.

Suncheon City in South Jeolla Province (Mayor Noh Gwan-gyu) announced on June 11 that it has produced overdue tax notices in multiple foreign languages for foreign taxpayers residing in the city, and will actively promote overdue prevention and payment methods through cooperation with related organizations.

Due to language barriers and cultural differences, many foreign residents have had difficulty fully understanding the overdue tax notices, leading to challenges in both the occurrence and resolution of overdue payments. To address this, the city has created overdue tax notices in four languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese.

The city aims to prevent overdue payments by providing advance notice of possible disadvantages through collaboration with related organizations, including administrative welfare centers in towns and neighborhoods frequently visited by foreign residents, the Suncheon City Foreign Resident Grievance Counseling Center, the Employment Welfare Center, the Suncheon City Family Center, and the Suncheon Tax Office. For foreign residents who already have overdue taxes, the city will provide separate guidance to collect the outstanding amounts.

Meanwhile, starting this year, the city has fully implemented the mobile notification service 'Kakao Electronic Overdue Notice.' This enables prompt and accurate information delivery to taxpayers who reside overseas or whose contact information is unclear, making it difficult to send overdue notices in the past. For elderly taxpayers who may have difficulty checking electronic notifications, paper notices are also being sent in parallel.

A city official stated, "We plan to introduce customized artificial intelligence for foreign language overdue notice promotion and to provide the Kakao electronic notification service," adding, "We will do our utmost to strengthen the overdue response system and maximize tax collection."