The National Tax Service (NTS) is establishing a dedicated team to track high-value tax delinquents who hide assets through overseas affiliates or name trusts. A tax management team of 10,000 will be deployed to assess the status of accumulated delinquencies amounting to 130 trillion won, and an artificial intelligence (AI)-based tax service and tax evasion detection system will also be developed.
On August 12, the NTS held a meeting of tax office heads at the Government Sejong 2nd Office, where it announced its "2026 Second Half National Tax Administration Operation Plan."
The dedicated teams for delinquency tracking and tax investigations will be set up at the Investigation Bureau 4 of the Seoul Regional Tax Office and Investigation Bureau 3 of the Central Regional Tax Office. They will conduct integrated investigations into asset tracking, tax evasion, and irregular tax audits related to overseas tax evasion and corporate fund outflows.
Previously, the NTS's collection office conducted surveillance, inquiries, and home searches targeting high-value and habitual delinquents. However, it was challenging to confirm the actual ownership of delinquents' assets when they were obscured through multiple layers of overseas affiliates or when shares of domestic corporations were registered under others' names.
The newly established teams will utilize irregular tax audit methods, including overseas information collection and analysis, to verify hidden assets and tax evasion suspicions. They will track transactions between business owners and domestic and foreign affiliates to identify corporations and assets effectively controlled by the delinquents.
Park Sang-jun, head of the NTS's Investigation Planning Division, explained, "The teams at the Seoul and Central offices are irregular dedicated investigation units. We are prioritizing these locations based on their capacity to focus on transactions between business owners and affiliates."
In the second half of the year, the NTS will operate a tax management team of 10,000 to assess the 130 trillion won in accumulated delinquencies. Currently, 5,500 personnel are active, and about 18,800 candidates applied for the second round of hiring for 4,000 additional team members, resulting in a competitive ratio of 4.7 to 1.
The tax management team will verify the payment capabilities of small-scale delinquents via phone and will visit high-value delinquents who avoid contact. Based on their findings, delinquents will be classified into three categories: temporarily unable to pay, willfully avoiding payment, and experiencing financial hardship.
For those temporarily unable to pay, the NTS will provide guidance on installment payments. In cases where assets are intentionally concealed, home searches, seizures, and lawsuits to cancel fraudulent transactions will be pursued. Delinquents facing financial hardship will be linked to welfare services and have their payment obligations waived.
Starting in 2027, the authority to collect fines and penalties scattered across various government departments will be consolidated under the NTS. The NTS plans to support the passage of the "Law on the Collection and Management of Non-Tax Revenue Delinquencies" within the year and establish a database and integrated management system for each delinquent.
Earlier this month, 23 government agencies, including the National Police Agency, the Fair Trade Commission, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the Korea Forest Service, signed a memorandum of understanding with the NTS. The NTS has begun verifying the status of 2.95 million delinquent individuals with unpaid fines totaling 1.1 trillion won and will expand its scope starting in September to include wage claims from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, environmental improvement fees from the Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Environment, and fines from the Fair Trade Commission.
This second half of the year, the NTS will implement AI-based "Home Tax AI Search" and "AI Phone Consultation" services. It is also designing an "AI Tax Evasion Detection System" that combines past tax audit cases, investigative expertise, and big data. The NTS plans to commence the main project in 2027 and gradually roll out major services starting in 2028.
The NTS will focus its tax investigations on activities that infringe on public welfare, such as low-priced transfers to avoid multi-home taxation, fraudulent transactions, stock manipulation, private use of corporate assets like luxury homes and supercars, illegal private financing, and false or unfair advertising. It aims to utilize international information exchange and collection cooperation to address overseas tax evasion and hidden assets.
To assist 1.03 million individual business owners and young entrepreneurs, as well as 40,000 affected corporations struggling with high exchange rates, high oil prices, and inflation, the NTS will offer extensions on payment deadlines, early refunds, and deferrals of tax audits. It will provide dedicated consultation services and tax deduction and exemption consulting for small and medium-sized enterprises relocating to regional areas, and extend the maximum deferral period for regular tax audits of regionally based companies to three years.
During the meeting, NTS Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun stated, "We have successfully implemented the national tax administration innovation tasks initiated from the voices of the field over the past six months. In the second half of the year, I urge all tax office heads to work together to lead national financial innovation and practice fair taxation, supporting the NTS in its role as a key player in the great leap forward of 'Irreplaceable Korea.'"
* This article has been translated by AI.
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