NTS Probes Corporate-Owned Luxury Homes for Tax Evasion by Owner Families

The National Tax Service has launched a nationwide probe into allegations that owner families have illicitly used expensive homes registered under corporate names to evade taxes. This initiative signifies a concentrated effort to scrutinize illegal practices involving the use of corporate assets for tax avoidance.

As of last year, approximately 1,600 corporations were identified as owning luxury homes valued over 900 million KRW and exceeding the standard 'National Housing' size. These firms held a total of 2,630 such properties, with their combined official valuation reaching 5.4 trillion KRW.

Commissioner Im Gwang-hyun announced the verification plan for non-business corporate-owned residences via social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on the 12th. He emphasized that residency by owner families in such properties without providing proper compensation constitutes tax evasion.

The NTS plans to convert tax investigations for corporations found to hold non-business properties with suspected tax evasion and will pursue related tax back payments. Following this initial inspection, the service plans to expand its scrutiny to other non-business real estate, such as land, held under corporate names.

Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung had ordered a review of measures to strengthen tax burdens on corporate non-business real estate.