Changwon Special City Discloses List of Major and Habitual Local Tax Delinquents

Over One Year in Arrears and Over 10 Million Won Owed
150 High-Value Delinquents with Total Arrears of 5.9 Billion Won

Changwon Special City, South Gyeongsang Province, has released the names of 150 high-value delinquent taxpayers who, as of January 1 this year, have failed to pay local taxes and local administrative penalties or surcharges for more than one year since the date of delinquency, with outstanding amounts of 10 million won or more. The list was made public on the city’s official website and through Wetax.

Changwon Special City Hall.

Among the newly disclosed individuals, 94 are private individuals and 49 are corporations who have defaulted on local taxes, with a total outstanding amount of 5.2 billion won. For local administrative penalties and surcharges (such as fines, enforcement charges, contributions, and compensation payments), there are 6 individuals and 1 corporation, with a total outstanding amount of 700 million won.

The public disclosure of high-value and habitual delinquent taxpayers is carried out nationwide every year on the third Wednesday of November to raise awareness among delinquents and foster a culture of honest tax payment. The information disclosed includes the name of the delinquent (or company name and representative for corporations), age, occupation, address, amount in arrears, and the type of tax or charge overdue.

The city provided advance notice to those subject to disclosure and granted them more than six months to explain their circumstances. In addition, even after the disclosure, reasonable procedures have been established so that individuals can be removed from the list if they pay more than 50% of their outstanding amount or if their total arrears fall below 10 million won.

At the same time as the public disclosure of high-value and habitual local tax delinquents, the city has also requested the Korea Customs Service to enforce collection on imported goods. As a result, high-value delinquents may have expensive items or overseas direct purchase goods seized at the airport when returning from overseas travel.

Kim Changwoo, head of the Taxation Division, stated, "We will continue to take strict action against high-value and habitual delinquents to ensure that the vast majority of citizens who pay their taxes faithfully do not feel a sense of deprivation."