Jin Sungjoon: "The National Tax Service Must Respond Strictly to Misconduct"
From 2020, Mr. A conspired with tax accountants and others for three years, receiving sexual favors and more than 100 million won in cash in exchange for providing favors such as quashing tax audits. He was also dismissed for arranging the issuance of three false tax invoices worth a total of 73 million won in collusion with a company.
According to the "Status of Disciplinary Actions Against Employees Over the Past Five Years" submitted by the National Tax Service to Assemblyman Jin Sungjoon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, on October 7, the total number of disciplinary actions imposed on National Tax Service officials for misconduct or corruption from 2020 to June 2025 was 358 cases, including the case of Mr. A.
The number of employees who received disciplinary actions resulting in removal from public office, such as dismissal, termination, or discharge, was 5 in 2020, 5 in 2021, 4 in 2022, 10 in 2023, 15 in 2024, and 6 from January to June 2025, totaling 45 employees.
In addition, 313 employees were subject to disciplinary actions such as suspension, demotion, salary reduction, or reprimand, which did not result in removal from public office.
Besides cases of misconduct involving cash and sexual favors from tax firms, there were also instances where employees were disciplined for "self tax refunds" by filing false reports.
One National Tax Service official, Mr. B, filed false reports by inflating the pre-paid tax amounts in comprehensive income tax returns under his and his child's names, thereby unlawfully receiving more than 6.9 million won in refunds. Over 22 instances, he misappropriated a total of approximately 23 million won.
He was also caught inducing ordinary taxpayers to transfer their comprehensive income tax refunds to his own account and was dismissed as a result.
There were also cases where officials were reprimanded for personal misuse of electronic information, such as accessing taxpayer information related to their father's business partners, or received a one-month salary reduction for leaking a tax audit target's complaint to investigative authorities before official submission and having their golf expenses paid by others.
Assemblyman Jin pointed out, "Corruption and misconduct by tax officials lead to taxpayer resistance and undermine public trust," adding, "The National Tax Service must respond strictly to acts of bribery, solicitation, and tax embezzlement, which damage the credibility of tax administration."
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