Gyeonggi Province Conducts Full Investigation into Hidden Assets of 23,613 High-Amount Tax Delinquents

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hoon Reporter] Gyeonggi Province will conduct a comprehensive investigation on 'fraudulent asset concealment' until December, targeting high-amount local tax delinquents who intentionally hide assets to evade tax obligations.

The investigation targets 23,613 high-amount local tax delinquents, and depending on circumstances, will extend to special relations as well, bringing the total investigation subjects to over 100,000 in actual scope.

The 'Regional Tax Delinquency Mobile Response Team' comprised of 76 tax collection officials from the province and 31 cities and counties will oversee the investigation.

The investigation will cover acquisition details, funding sources, junior mortgages and provisional attachments, fraudulent trusts (where a legal debtor establishes a trust to harm creditors), and agreed division of inherited property related to real estate and rights in the names of related parties acquired through delinquent taxpayers' assets.

The investigation will proceed in two phases. In the first phase, the province will verify ownership of nationwide real estate and other assets of delinquents and their families, extracted by utilizing big data previously collected regarding local tax payments.

The province will focus intensively on circumstances where assets were transferred to related parties around the time tax delinquency was confirmed.

For delinquent taxpayers selected for the second phase investigation based on collusive asset transfers and changes in asset and income details, the province will conduct thorough verification of sources of purchase or jeonse deposit payments and business startup funds through financial inquiries into delinquent taxpayers and relatives suspected of concealing assets.

The province plans to file fraudulent asset concealment cancellation lawsuits under 'Local Tax Collection Act' and 'Civil Law' provisions to recover related assets for delinquent taxpayers confirmed to have engaged in tax collection evasion.

If tax delinquency evasion under the 'Local Tax Basic Act' is determined to be established, the province plans to also proceed with criminal complaints against both the delinquent taxpayers and accomplices.

Choi Won-sam, Director of the Tax Justice Division at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Delinquent taxpayers who siphon off assets and transfer them to family members and other special relations negatively impact the atmosphere of good faith tax payment," adding, "We will eradicate fraudulent asset concealment and realize fair taxation by mobilizing all available legal procedures to collect delinquent taxes to the end."

Meanwhile, considering the COVID-19 situation, the province plans to actively utilize non-contact investigations to minimize contact with taxpayers, and in cases where on-site investigations are unavoidable, will strictly adhere to quarantine guidelines.