Mr. A, a retailer, is a high taxpayer who owes hundreds of millions of won in taxes, including comprehensive income tax. He recently won the first prize in the Lotto, which gave him billions of won. Although he has enough money to pay his back taxes, he hid it by transferring much of his winnings to a family account and withdrawing some of it in cash and checks. The National Tax Service has been investigating his assets, including seizing his winnings account to collect the remaining amount and considering a lawsuit for the winnings transferred to the family account.

Today (April 22), the National Tax Service announced that it is intensively tracking 557 high-debt taxpayers who have the ability to pay but are using unusual methods to avoid enforced collection, totaling 377.8 billion won in arrears.

First, there are 36 people who avoided paying taxes after winning large lottery winnings, like A above. Most of them, like Mr. A, hid their winnings by transferring them to family members’ accounts. When they received large winnings, they withheld them as other income, which the National Tax Service reportedly used to identify the recipients and determine whether they owed taxes안전놀이터.

In other cases, they used pooling, or joint ownership of property by two or more people. A delinquent taxpayer acquired a property in joint tenancy with another person with the intention of avoiding enforcement. Joint tenancy makes it difficult for the IRS to directly foreclose on the property for the joint owner’s share.

There was also a case of a high-income taxpayer who falsely placed a mortgage on a house or commercial property he owned, and the creditor was a related party such as his mother. There was also a case of a delinquent who joined a local housing association and acquired a condominium without paying taxes.

In addition to these, there were also many high-value taxpayers who hid their wealth by purchasing expensive houses and vehicles in the name of their family members, or continued their business in the name of their relatives.

Hundreds of luxury bags, shoes, and wallets found at the residences of high-risk taxpayers. Photo: National Tax Service

The NTA has so far collected 10.3 billion won in back taxes in cash or secured bonds for some of the delinquents, and is conducting property tracing investigations to collect taxes by filing lawsuits or criminal prosecutions for others.

The NTA said, “In recent years, taxpayers who have the ability to pay have become increasingly sophisticated in evading compulsory collection by using abnormal methods.” “We will strengthen property tracing and collection activities for large taxpayers by identifying the living conditions of taxpayers and the property details of their cohabiting families.”