◆Compulsory collection of virtual assets for nonpayers
Stop cryptocurrency soaring with cash
Actively utilized for the’effectiveness of return’ of the National Tax Service
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# A, who runs a hospital in Gangnam, Seoul, and lives in an expensive apartment, did not pay a comprehensive income tax of 2.7 billion won. A hides the amount of hospital income in cryptocurrency with 3.9 billion won, and the tax authorities seize the cryptocurrency through the exchange. Amid the recent surge in cryptocurrency prices, when it was impossible to withdraw them in cash, A paid the full amount of the arrears tax in cash.
# Delinquent person B transferred the real estate located in Gyeonggi-do for 4.8 billion won and concealed it as a virtual asset without paying 1.2 billion won in capital gains tax. B sold the cryptocurrency and paid the transfer tax in full in cash.
According to the National Tax Service on the 15th, as the number of cryptocurrency investors and transaction costs increase significantly, the intelligent act of concealing assets with bitcoins is increasing. The number of cryptocurrency investors increased from 1.2 million in 2020 to 1.59 million this year, and the average daily transaction amount also increased significantly from 1 trillion won to 8 trillion won during the same period. Bitcoin price is expected to increase significantly from 8 million won at the end of 2019 to 31 million won at the end of last year and 62 million won as of March 10 this year, increasing the amount for arrears.
The IRS plans to collect cryptocurrency in Korean won after converting it into cash. It is the same way as stock seizure. When an owner who is a delinquent person sells cryptocurrency, it has blocked the right to ask the exchange to pay for the sale. Delinquents who have not paid their payments to date will discuss the payment schedule by the 25th, and then sell them at an appropriate time to collect the amount of arrears. The reason that the cryptocurrency itself is not confiscated is that there may be difficulties in converting it into cash for reasons such as not being able to find the password of the coin wallet holding the cryptocurrency.
For the first time in history, the National Tax Service was able to collect cryptocurrency for the first time. The influence of the ruling that it was intangible property of enemy value came into play. In the state of holding the cryptocurrency, the current status of the cryptocurrency holdings of the arrears from various exchanges is collected and analyzed for forced collection because the financial account is not revealed even if the financial account is inquired.
The National Tax Service expects that the effectiveness of compulsory collection will increase further as the price of cryptocurrency rises. The time when the IRS checked the balance of virtual assets such as bitcoin of arrears through the exchange was January this year, and the current price of bitcoin has more than doubled from the time of foreclosure. “We plan to exchange prices at an optimal time in consideration of price trends,” said Jung Cheol-woo, head of the National Tax Service Bureau of Taxation. “As the National Tax Collection Act prohibits excessive seizure, we will only seize the amount equivalent to the amount of arrears at the time of seizure.”
In the future, the National Tax Service plans to track and recover the hidden assets of large arrears using cryptocurrency. From next year, income (other income) generated by cryptocurrency will also be taxed, so the authorities can receive periodic reports of their holdings from the exchange. The National Tax Service urged citizens to actively report the concealed property of large arrears. If the report leads to collection, the reported reward is received up to 2 billion won by applying a payment rate of 5 to 20% depending on the amount collected.
/ Sejong = Reporter Hwang Jeong-won [email protected]
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