Hannam-dong 'Emperor Residence' and 10 Billion-Won Villa for Chairman... Suspected of 1.9 Trillion Won Tax Evasion

The National Tax Service (NTS) has launched tax audits into 50 companies where the family members of controlling shareholders were found to have privately used high-end corporate housing.

The NTS announced today (the 25th) that following a full inspection of 2,639 high-end corporate housing units with an officially assessed price exceeding 900 million won, it confirmed that 1,097 units—excluding business-use properties such as rental housing and employee dormitories—were used for residence or private purposes by controlling shareholders' families.

The list includes 5 major conglomerates and 6 listed companies, with the scale of suspected tax evasion by these firms reaching around 1.9 trillion won.

According to the investigation, one major corporation purchased a luxury house in Hannam-dong worth over 20 billion won and even used company funds to cover more than 10 billion won in expansion and interior design costs.

Another company provided a Cheongdam-dong villa worth over 4 billion won as a so-called 'emperor residence' and even financially supported the living and stay expenses of the controlling shareholder's child who is studying abroad.

Cases were also uncovered where companies purchased a 10 billion-won vacation home under the pretext of employee welfare only to use it exclusively for the chairman's family, or where the company footed the bill for the interior renovation of the controlling shareholder's personal residence.

In addition, 5 cases were identified where corporations used company-name housing to evade regulations on multiple homeowners, such as exemptions for single-home owners and heavy taxation on comprehensive real estate holding taxes.

The NTS plans to seek criminal punishment if illegal activities such as tax evasion or issuing false tax invoices are confirmed, and will sequentially expand tax audits to corporations not included in this round as tax evasion suspicions are uncovered.

(Photo provided by NTS, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.