Gyeonggi Province Holds Online Auction of 500 Seized Items Including Luxury Watches from Tax Delinquents

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province will publicly sell luxury bags, watches, and precious metals seized from high-value local tax delinquents through an online auction beginning on October 19. The province explained that it had conducted offline auctions of seized items from high-value delinquents since 2015, but due to COVID-19 this year it will implement a non-contact online electronic auction.

The online auction of seized items is the first of its kind in South Korea, and any citizen except the tax delinquent can participate regardless of location.

A total of 500 items will be sold at auction, including 73 luxury bags such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton, 32 luxury watches including Piaget and Rolex, 336 pieces of precious metals, and 59 other items such as golf clubs and liquor.

The auction will feature items ranging from a minimum of 80,000 won, including a Piaget watch appraised at 3.33 million won, a Chanel bag appraised at 2.7 million won, and a diamond ring appraised at 2.25 million won.

Bidding will be conducted on an individual item basis, and the highest bidder during the bidding period will win. The winning bidder must pay the amount to a designated account by 6 p.m. on October 26 and can pick up the item via courier delivery or in person according to staff instructions.

Auction items can be viewed on the online electronic auction website (https://ggtax.automart.co.kr) starting October 14. Bidding will take place over three days from October 19-21, with winning bidders to be announced at 10 a.m. on October 23.

For more details on how to participate, please refer to the Gyeonggi Province government website.

If an auctioned item is found to be counterfeit, a buyer protection measure is in place whereby the payment amount will be refunded and the appraisal company will compensate 100% of the appraised value.

Choi Won-sam, head of the Tax Justice Division at Gyeonggi Province, said, "Most of the items on this online electronic auction are movable property obtained through searches of residences of chronic delinquents with weak tax payment consciousness," and added, "We will continue to make efforts to establish a culture of sincere tax payment and fair taxation through the development of new collection methods."

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province sold 410 seized items through an in-person auction last June and collected a total of 324 million won in unpaid taxes.