Suwon Special City Recovers 1.1 Billion Won in Evaded Taxes Through Strategic Tax Audits

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Suwon Special City conducted strategic tax audits targeting 254 corporations in the first half of this year and recovered 1.1 billion won in local income taxes and other levies.

By tax category, local income tax and resident tax, the city's main tax sources, accounted for the largest share at 714 million won (64.4%), followed by acquisition tax at 361 million won (32.5%), and local education tax and other taxes at 35 million won (3.1%).

The city's Tax Affairs Division strategic audit team developed investigation techniques to identify 'unregistered business locations' within Suwon and conducted intensive audits of corporations with no local tax payment records.

Corporation A, headquartered in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, was caught failing to pay local taxes owed to Suwon where its unregistered business location is situated during this tax audit, resulting in penalties totaling 110 million won.

Real estate company B maintained its registered headquarters in Yongin while actually operating its corporate business in Suwon and posting recruitment advertisements. Upon discovery, it was charged with recovering 73 million won.

Since establishing its strategic audit team in 2018, the city has paid attention to various social issues when planning tax audit initiatives, developed investigation techniques implemented first nationwide, and has been discovering new tax sources.

Using 'KISCO (Construction Industry Knowledge Information System),' the city recovered 2.3 billion won in evaded taxes from subcontracting construction companies that withdrew from construction sites, and by tracking speculative real estate companies exposed on labor recruitment platforms, recovered 1.48 billion won.

Additionally, using the 'public big data triangle tax audit' technique that analyzes three types of data—health insurance and industrial accident insurance reports of corporations, and tax data provided by the Ministry of Interior and Safety to local governments nationwide—the city identified hidden tax sources and recovered 1.83 billion won.

Through such efforts, the city received external recognition including a Presidential Citation (KISCO investigation technique), Minister of Interior and Safety Award (speculative real estate investigation technique), and three consecutive years of excellence awards in the tax audit category at the Gyeonggi Province-organized 'Strengthening Tax Justice Competency Research Presentation Conference.'

A city official stated, "Since establishing the strategic audit team, we have achieved the outcome of recovering 11 billion won in local taxes," and added, "Going forward, we will continue to develop diverse techniques to investigate tax evasion sources and secure autonomous financial resources centered on city taxes."