South Korean tax authorities seized crypto from 5,741 people

[ad_1]

Source: Minseong Kim (CC BY-SA 4.0)

South Korean tax authorities have seized the crypto of 5,741 citizens since 2020. The tax authorities claim that the citizens in question were guilty of tax evasion or failed to meet their tax obligations.

KBS reported that the data was released by the National Tax Service (NTS), following a Freedom of Information request from MK Jin Seon-mi of the Planning and Finance Committee of the United States. National Assembly.

The latest data shows that $13.5 million worth of coins were seized from almost 500 people alone. These people, according to the NTS, are the highest earners who pay the highest income tax bracket.

In September, the NTS said it had seized a total of $186 million worth of crypto from tax evaders over the past two years.

Why are the South Korean tax authorities seizing crypto?

The crackdown on the NTS has continued apace since it successfully persuaded the government to revise the nation’s tax collection law.

This allowed it to “obtain a legal basis for the compulsory collection of cryptocurrency, allowing tax authorities to demand the transfer of virtual currency from tax evaders – and cryptocurrency exchanges,” KBS noted.

Although South Korean crypto traders do not yet pay capital gains tax on their income, the NTS still believes it has a role to play. And the aforementioned legal overhaul effectively opened the door for the NTS to compel domestic crypto exchanges to hand over account details of any South Korean taxpayers the body suspects of wrongdoing.

The NTS says it has evidence that thousands of citizens have not declared their financial income. He believes that many of them sought to hide their income by buying crypto-assets.

He responded to this with a “compulsory collection” campaign which began in the second half of 2020. The campaign has since seen several regional tax authorities seize coins. In many cases, crypto holders hastily paid their outstanding tax bills in fiat so they could regain access to their crypto. But in some cases, the NTS seems to have liquidated coins.

One-year trading volumes on Upbit, South Korea’s leading exchange. (Source: CoinGecko)

In addition to confiscating coins from local revenue and tax evaders, the NTS has also seized coins in bankruptcy hearings, as well as foreclosures.

[ad_2]