NTS Seized the Account Books of 231 Real Estate Agencies

National Tax Service (NTS) has launched an intensive tax audit on 231 real estate agencies, indicating that the tax audit has expanded to the entire real estate industry, in addition to the surprise in-depth investigations, including the seizure of the account books of about 10 apartment sales agencies and real estate consultancies on November 13.

NTS announced on November 16 that without any preliminary notice, it has recently seized related documents, including the account books of 231 real estate agencies which earned hefty profits by aggravating the speculation in the real estate market without paying taxes fairly.

The subjects of investigations are 231 real estate agencies in 53 areas around the nation where the speculative demand is high such as Gangnam in Seoul, which has been the origin of the real estate boom, and Daejeon in Chungcheong-do.

Among them, the number of agencies located in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas, which are under the Seoul and Jungbu (Central) Regional National Tax Service’s regulation, is 158, 68 percent of the total number of agencies under investigation.

If the tax evasion is revealed in the tax audit, NTS will collect taxes and charge a penalty tax and file lawsuits to the prosecutors according to the “Act for the punishment of tax evaders” against the agencies which hid their taxes through illegal methods, including fraud. Furthermore, NTS will notify the local governments of the agencies which operated without registering to the NTS and will enforce these agencies to register in order to collect the tax owed.

Meanwhile, as the investigation on the sources of funds owned by 448 people who are suspected to be speculators in Gangnam area has finished on November 13, NTS will single out the subjects of the lawsuits by the end of the week and announce the final results at the end of this month.

Ji-Wan Cha cha@donga.com