Thorough Tax Probe on the 1074 Suspected Speculative Investors in Kangnam Area from Next Week

The National Tax Service will carry out its first tax probe on the traders of the redevelopment apartments and the transferors of the apartment parcel-out rights in Seocho and Kangnam-ku starting next week.

NTS released `the general tax measures for disguised demand for apartments in Kangnam area` including the thorough tax probe of suspected false tax reporters, the introduction of the prompt announcement of the official fixed price, and the operation of the countermeasure team to prevent speculative investments.

NTS also announced that it is in the final stage of gathering information on the 1074 suspects who are suspected of evading taxes in apartment parceling transactions in Seocho and Kangnam area during January through September last year.

Lee Ju-Seok, the director of the audit team of NTS, said that "The tax probe is inevitable since most of the 1074 individuals are suspected of tax evasion according to the comparative analysis of the reported amounts and the market prices." The gap between the reported amount and the maximum market price of 225 suspects is over 100 million won.

NTS will conduct its second tax probe in March of the suspects after collecting information on transferring and transactions of the redeveloped apartments in the 17 apartment complexes in Kangnam area from last October and the apartments in other areas including Kangnam, Seocho, Songpa, and Kangdong.

NTS is also planning to minimize the gap between the official price and the market price by promptly announcing the official apartment prices in the 95 redevelopment area in Kangnam of Seoul. Kim Bo-Hyun, the director of the property tax bureau, explained "The new official apartment prices in the 95 apartment complexes may be announced by February or March."

NTS will establish 74 speculative investment prevention team, comprised of 150 tax collectors in the Seoul area, to investigate the actual condition of the real estate transactions.

Kwang-Am Cheon iam@donga.com