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NTS seizes $900,000 in assets from tax evaders, launches probe into 710 individuals

Published: 10 Jun. 2025, 15:41

Gold bars, cash, watches and checks were discovered in a tax evader's hiking backpack, leading to the National Tax Service seizing over 3 billion won in hidden assets. [YONHAP]

The National Tax Service (NTS) seized 300 million won ($220,000) in hidden assets from a tax evader who had been living in luxury while carrying around bundles of gold bars in a hiking backpack.

The NTS announced Tuesday that it has selected 710 high-risk, habitual tax evaders for in-depth asset tracing investigations.

These individuals collectively owe more than 1 trillion won in back taxes, with some owing several hundreds of billions each.

Among the tax evaders, 362 individuals led extravagant lifestyles, while 224 evaded forced collection through various schemes. An additional 124 used tactics like borrowing accounts, registering real estate under other names or hiding valuables in safety deposit boxes.

Investigators found that many of these individuals stayed in luxury hotels located near or containing casinos — both domestic and overseas — where they withdrew cash to gamble.

Others purchased high-end luxury goods at department stores or falsely reported residential addresses to avoid asset tracing while actually residing in expensive homes.

The NTS confiscated 1.2 billion won in assets, including stacks of cash, checks and gold bars found hidden in balconies and secret safes.

In one case, an individual had disguised bundles of 100,000-won checks as trash under sheets of newspaper.

A National Tax Service official explains how tax evaders avoided paying taxes in a press briefing at the government complex in Sejong on June 10. [YONHAP]

Some taxpayers went to extraordinary lengths to avoid payment — including fake divorces.

One individual sold an apartment in Seoul but underreported the acquisition cost, resulting in a large capital gains tax bill. After receiving the notice, the suspect and their spouse filed for an agreed divorce and transferred ownership of another apartment to the spouse in what they reported as property division.

However, the NTS found the two continued to make financial transactions between themselves and live together at the spouse's address, revealing it was a sham divorce designed to dodge taxes.

In another case, a special-purpose company, established to finance a real estate development project, failed to pay hundreds of billions of won in corporate taxes.

After a tax audit revealed the owed amount, the company inflated its distributable profits, handed out large dividends to shareholders, and then dissolved.

The NTS determined the company had deliberately underreported taxes and distributed nearly all of its remaining assets to shareholders before liquidation.

The NTS is pursuing civil lawsuits to reverse fraudulent asset transfers and will file criminal complaints against offenders and their accomplices if they are found to have intentionally evaded seizure.

Last year, the NTS conducted 2,064 on-site searches to seize hidden assets, filed 1,084 civil lawsuits to recover misappropriated funds and penalized 423 individuals for evading or abetting evasion of seizure orders.

These efforts resulted in the recovery or securing of 2.8 trillion won in cash and receivables.

“We will expand our specialized investigative teams and upgrade our analytics systems by using AI and big data," said Ahn Deok-soo, director of the NTS’s tax collection and legal affairs bureau.

"We also plan to strengthen international tax collection cooperation and incentivize staff through reward programs.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]