Foreign Tax Arrears Reach 700 Million Won
Cash and Luxury Goods Seized... 12 Million Won Collected
As the amount of local taxes in arrears by foreigners continues to increase each year, Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province has launched strong collection activities targeting foreign delinquent taxpayers.
Bucheon City Delinquent Mobile Team conducted a search of the residence of Mr. A, a Chinese national, on the 17th and collected the full amount of 12 million won in unpaid taxes. The photo shows the cash and luxury bags seized during the residence search. Photo by Bucheon City
On September 23, Bucheon City announced that it would conduct an intensive collection campaign through its "Special Cleanup Plan for Foreign Local Tax Arrears" until November 30. As of August, there were 30,871 registered foreigners in Bucheon, accounting for 4% of the total population of 762,192. As of January this year, there were 4,563 foreign local tax delinquents, with arrears amounting to 700 million won, which represents 1.2% of the total local tax arrears.
On the 17th, the Bucheon City Delinquent Mobile Team conducted a search of the residence of Mr. A, a Chinese national, and collected the full amount of 12 million won in unpaid taxes. Mr. A, who had previously worked in construction, was living in a spacious villa but did not have any assets registered in his name. During the search, Bucheon City confirmed that Mr. A had liquidated his business due to a tax collection action by the National Tax Service and had either disposed of his assets or transferred them to family members in an attempt to evade taxes. The city seized cash and luxury bags, and Mr. A's wife ultimately transferred the full amount of 12 million won to the city’s account.
A Bucheon City official emphasized, "Fair and strict collection procedures should be applied to foreign delinquent taxpayers just as they are to Korean nationals. We will continue our collection activities to ensure fairness for diligent taxpayers." The city also plans to conduct a comprehensive survey of foreign delinquent taxpayers and distribute multilingual local tax payment notices-including in English, Chinese, and Vietnamese-focusing on areas and facilities with high concentrations of foreigners. Bucheon City will continue to actively enforce compulsory measures such as asset seizure and residence searches for foreign delinquents, just as it does for Korean nationals.
Meanwhile, the issue of foreign local tax arrears is becoming a serious problem nationwide. Over the past three years, the amount of local tax arrears by foreigners increased by 16%, from 37.3 billion won in 2021 to 43.4 billion won in 2023. The number of delinquent cases also rose from 877,000 to 931,000 during the same period.
Although the Ministry of the Interior and Safety is imposing administrative sanctions such as public disclosure of names and travel bans on foreigners with large or high-level tax arrears, effective management remains difficult due to frequent changes of residence and departures from the country.
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