NTS Chief Announces Major Tax Audits Into "Emperor-Style Corporate Residences" Used by Owner Families

This is a post shared by National Tax Service (NTS) Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun on his social media.

After stating that "sales of supercars have been declining following tax investigations into the private use of corporate supercars," he wrote, "There is an issue identical to supercars, which is the problem of emperor-style corporate residences."

Commissioner Lim noted that the NTS conducted its first-ever inspection into high-priced corporate housing subject to comprehensive real estate holding taxes—properties exceeding both the standard housing size and an official assessed value of 900 million won—stating that "the results were more serious than expected."

Among the roughly 2,600 units investigated, excluding those used for rental purposes by leasing companies or as employee dormitories, about 1,000 units, or roughly 42%, were found to be occupied or privately used by families of company owners, he added. The average official assessed value of these homes exceeded 2 billion won, with 12 properties surpassing 10 billion won and the highest-priced unit exceeding 20 billion won.

Commissioner Lim specifically stated, "Some companies purchased ultra-high-end apartments with scenic Han River views or located in Gangnam and Yongsan, providing them as luxury residences for owners or their children while keeping it an open secret from regular employees," adding, "There were also speculative cases where individuals transferred their own high-priced homes to corporations to evade multiple-home regulations."

He also pointed out that "cases where high-end condos worth over 10 billion won were secured under corporate names under the pretext of employee welfare, only to be used privately by the owner's family or certain executives, presented issues in terms of fairness."

Targeting these emperor-style residence practices, Commissioner Lim announced the launch of large-scale tax audits.

He added that the NTS will expand its verification to overall acts of corporate fund embezzlement, such as the free provision of luxury condos or overseas residences to chairmen's children, as well as the covering of study-abroad expenses.

(Reported by Jeong Gyeong-yun | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.