"Paid Taxes on Someone Else's Land for 20 Years"... Hwasun County Issues Full Refund Over Name Mix-Up

by Shin Dongho

Published 25 Mar.2026 12:51(KST)

Hwasun County Office Building Exterior

It has recently come to light that Hwasun County in South Jeolla Province erroneously imposed and collected property taxes for 20 years from the family of a person with the same name as the actual landowner, sparking controversy. Initially, the county planned to refund only a portion of the amount, but after a formal complaint was filed, it decided to issue a full refund.

According to Hwasun County on March 25, since 2006, the county had imposed property taxes on Mr. A for a piece of forest land in Iyange-myeon. Believing the land belonged to his late father, Mr. A paid a total of approximately 430,000 won in taxes over about 20 years.

However, it was recently confirmed that the land in question actually belonged to another person with the same name as his father, which turned the situation upside down. Upon learning this, Mr. A filed a civil complaint with the county last month, requesting a refund for the overpaid taxes.

An investigation by the county revealed that the name of the actual owner listed in the land registry matched that of Mr. A’s late father and that the two parcels of land were adjacent, leading to the tax bill being sent to the wrong person. It is suspected that this error may have originated from an administrative mistake during a past land registry update.

The main issue was the scope of the refund.

Under the Local Tax Basic Act, the right to claim a refund for overpaid taxes expires after five years. Based on this, the county initially notified Mr. A that it would only refund about 200,000 won covering the most recent five years.

However, after Mr. A strongly objected, the county changed its position.

After reviewing related recommendations from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in 2021, the county decided to refund the full amount of taxes paid over the 20-year period.