National Tax Service Targets 'Stock Price Manipulation, Real Estate Speculation, Price Collusion'... Collects 614.1 Billion Won in Back Taxes Over Past Year

National Tax Service Announces Key Achievements and Future Plans After One Year Under Lee Jaemyung Administration

3.1 Trillion Won Collected in One Year Through Tracking Investigations, Including the Delinquency Management Team

Kwanghyun Lim: “Pursuing Integrated Collection of Non-Tax Revenues Such as Fines and Penalties”

The National Tax Service has collected over 600 billion won in back taxes through tax investigations into antisocial tax evasion such as stock price manipulation, real estate speculation, and price collusion during the first year of the Lee Jae-myung administration. In addition, it collected 3.1 trillion won from large-scale and habitual tax delinquents through tracking investigations and recovered 33.9 billion won in overseas hidden assets. Going forward, the National Tax Service plans to continue focusing its investigative capabilities on stock and real estate tax evasion, while also striving to evolve into an 'integrated fiscal revenue agency' by collecting even non-tax revenues such as fines and penalties in arrears.

On June 11, Kwanghyun Lim, Commissioner of the National Tax Service, held a press briefing at the Government Complex Sejong to announce the major achievements of the past year and the direction for the second year's work, marking the first anniversary of the "people's sovereignty government."

Kwanghyun Lim, Commissioner of the National Tax Service, is announcing the major achievements of the first anniversary of the Lee Jae-myung administration and the direction for the second-year tasks at the Government Complex Sejong on the 11th. National Tax Service

Commissioner Lim emphasized, "Over the past year, we have responded firmly to malicious tax evasion, consistently applying the principle that any economic gains obtained through unfair practices or privileges must be recovered through taxes." He added, "As the new administration’s first special investigation, we targeted tax evasion in the stock market caused by unfair practices, followed by investigations into tax evasion that promoted inflation by exploiting price collusion and monopoly status to reap excessive profits and increase the burden on ordinary citizens, as well as thorough taxation of unearned income gained from real estate speculation."

Last July, as its first special investigation under the new administration, the National Tax Service investigated 27 cases of unfair tax evasion in the stock market—including companies involved in ‘tunneling’ (diverting assets or profits) and stock price manipulation—that had not previously been thoroughly scrutinized. This resulted in 257.6 billion won in back taxes collected and 38 cases subject to criminal penalties (30 cases referred for prosecution and 8 cases with notifications of penalty). Last month, the authorities conducted a second round of investigations into 31 cases, including stock price manipulation, tunneling, and illegal ‘leading rooms’ (unauthorized investment tip groups), continuing its crackdown on forces that disrupt a healthy capital market.

Regarding tax evasion that encouraged inflation and increased the burden on ordinary people through price collusion and abuse of monopoly status for excessive profits, the authorities carried out four large-scale investigations (117 cases) since September last year. So far, 308.4 billion won in back taxes have been collected and 21 cases have been subject to criminal penalties (4 cases referred for prosecution and 17 notifications of penalty).

After verifying foreign high-priced housing transactions, which increased immediately after the introduction of lending restrictions in August last year, the authorities thoroughly examined all types of expedient real estate tax evasion and recovered unearned income gained from real estate speculation through taxation. To date, 48.1 billion won has been recovered. Current investigations focus on multi-home rental business operators who abuse the rental business system for speculation purposes, as well as high-priced corporate-owned homes classified as non-business use real estate. From the second half of the year, there are plans to investigate cases where business loans have been diverted for home purchases.

Through investigations into tax evasion related to stocks, real estate, and price collusion in the past year, the National Tax Service has collected a total of 614.1 billion won in back taxes. For large-scale and habitual tax delinquents, efforts were made to track down and collect assets concealed not only domestically but also overseas. By launching the first-ever Delinquency Management Team, operating a special task force for high-value delinquents, and conducting joint searches with local governments, the agency collected a record-high 3.1 trillion won between May 2025 and April 2026, the largest amount since the founding of the National Tax Service.

For delinquents who evaded taxes and moved assets overseas, the scope of international cooperation for collection was expanded from Asia to Europe, resulting in the recovery of 33.9 billion won—90% of all overseas hidden assets recouped in the past year alone. Recently, the National Tax Service has begun extending its cooperation to Africa, starting with Liberia, and expects further increases in the recovery of overseas hidden assets.

Entering the second year of the Lee Jae-myung administration, the National Tax Service plans to focus its investigative efforts on areas where expedients and unfairness remain, such as tax evasion that harms livelihoods through illegal acts like collusion and overburdens ordinary citizens, unfair tax practices in the stock market that disrupt capital market order, and real estate tax evasion that threatens housing stability for ordinary people. Furthermore, the agency is working to transition beyond a tax collection body into an 'integrated fiscal revenue agency.'

According to the National Tax Service, arrears in non-tax revenue amount to 16.2 trillion won, involving 384 persons. The agency expects that, through integrated collection, it can raise the collection rates for fines (currently 73%), penalties (40%), and reimbursement charges (22%) to about 90%.

Commissioner Lim stated, "We will standardize the collection system for non-tax revenues such as penalties, fines, and reimbursement charges, which are currently managed separately by 4,500 agencies under about 300 different laws, and fully implement integrated collection of overdue non-tax revenues." He added, "Since the National Tax Service does not currently have an organizational unit for the collection of non-tax revenues, we plan to coordinate with relevant ministries regarding the necessary personnel and budget."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.