The National Tax Service (NTS) has disclosed its tax collection improvements ahead of this year's National Assembly audit. The agency has eliminated the tax obligations of 4,992 low-income delinquent taxpayers, totaling 81.7 billion won, and established a tax collection cooperation system with seven countries to track the overseas hidden assets of malicious delinquents.
On October 12, the NTS announced that it has thoroughly reviewed issues raised more than twice during the National Assembly audits over the past five years. The agency has completed improvements, including measures to combat illegal tax evasion, support for low-income delinquent taxpayers, and the establishment of a dedicated legal team for employee protection.
Support for low-income delinquent taxpayers focuses on verifying their financial situations to assist in their economic recovery. The NTS introduced and implemented a tax obligation elimination system in March of this year, actively pursuing the elimination of obligations for qualifying delinquent taxpayers.
Through the verification efforts of the newly launched National Tax Delinquency Management Team, the NTS has eliminated tax obligations for 4,992 low-income delinquent taxpayers, totaling 81.7 billion won, by July. Additionally, 1,667 taxpayers facing difficulties due to illness or accidents have been connected to local government welfare services.
With plans to expand the operations of the delinquency management team in the second half of the year, the NTS aims to proactively identify and support low-income delinquent taxpayers who may fall through the cracks of welfare services.
In addressing real estate tax evasion, the NTS has strengthened the verification of funding sources for high-value housing transactions and gift processes. Since last year, the agency has conducted comprehensive checks on transactions involving properties valued at over 3 billion won and gift transactions in high-value apartment areas such as Gangnam and the surrounding regions. The NTS is also verifying funding sources for minors and foreigners acquiring high-value properties.
Since October of last year, the NTS has established and operated a real estate tax evasion reporting center and has created a system to receive funding plans in real-time from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The agency plans to continue monitoring transaction trends and market conditions to address tax evasion in real estate transactions.
The NTS has also expanded its cooperation on collecting overseas hidden assets. Since August of last year, the agency has signed practical cooperation agreements (MOUs) with seven countries and has recovered hidden assets from malicious delinquents through tracking investigations.
By sharing successful tracking investigation cases with field staff and providing specialized training courses, the NTS is enhancing its capacity to respond to offshore tax evasion. The agency plans to increase the number of countries with which it has signed practical cooperation agreements to improve the effectiveness of tracking and recovering overseas hidden assets.
The NTS stated that it will strive to ensure that the National Assembly's feedback leads to tangible improvements and results, and it will actively seek solutions to issues raised during this year's National Assembly audit.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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