| gettyimagesbank |
By Yoon Ja-young
Purchasing a number of super cars including Lamborghini and Bentley, enjoying luxurious trips overseas and buying up real estate, these are examples of what suspects of tax evasion have done with the money they hid from the tax agency.
The National Tax Service (NTS) said Wednesday that it will investigate 99 people suspected of tax evasion. This time the probes are focused on those hindering fair trade and increasing the burden or encroaching on the livelihoods of the working class, according to the tax agency.
One of the cases reported by the NTS involves a pawnbroker who sold luxury goods that customers had provided as collateral, and then failed to buy them back at an online flea market platform. While selling jewelry, luxury watches and bags, some of which were worth as much as hundreds of millions of won, the pawnbroker disguised the sales as private person-to-person trade to avoid tax. The pawnbroker received payments via borrowed bank accounts, and omitted all of those sales when reporting tax. The pawnbroker's family led a luxurious life, purchasing sports cars, traveling abroad and buying an apartment.
Another case involved a food manufacturer who reaped huge profits on the growing popularity of Korean food. The person evaded tax by dispersing increased sales to businesses set up in his children's names as well as receiving money using accounts borrowed from relatives. The children were paid hundreds of thousands of won a year without even working, and drove around 10 super cars including Lamborghini, Ferrari and Bentley.
A private academy specializing in teaching high school students aiming to major in sports at colleges, also committed tax evasion. On top of the monthly tuition, students were charged between 5 million won and 6 million won in consulting fees during college entrance exam season. The chief of the private academy spent the money shopping for real estate.
The NTS said it will expand its investigations to sectors related with people's livelihoods, amid comprehensive economic troubles including inflation, high interest rates and low economic growth.