Auditor General puts brakes on IRS tax audit power abuse
“I am not taxable as a non-resident of Korea.
but selected for investigation because they have a domestic address”
Daegu Medical Center ‘1 billion won’ tax investigation
In fact, the employee simply assumed the charge
The National Tax Service’s practice of selecting celebrities and high-income earners for tax investigations without specific grounds was criticized by the National Audit Office on Wednesday. Among the auditors’ points was the case of Samsung Lions closer Oh Seung-hwan, who was investigated solely because his address was in Korea when he played in the Japanese professional league.
The NTA released the report, “Actual Status of Taxpayer Rights and Interests,” on the same day, saying that the NTA abused its power to investigate taxpayers due to a lack of process for selecting those to be investigated.
According to the audit, the NTA selected Oh Seung-hwan, who was a closing pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan from 2014 to 2015, for an irregular tax inspection because he was suspected of failing to file a comprehensive income tax return for the 8.3 billion won ($8.3 million) he received in contract payments and salary.
Although Oh was not considered a resident under the Income Tax Act because he stayed in Korea for only 48 days in 2014 and 49 days in 2015, the National Tax Service determined that he was a resident simply because his address was in Korea and that he had been enrolled in and paying into the national pension system since before his overseas activities.
However, the Tax Judgment Advisory Committee ruled that Oh was a non-resident based on the fact that he spent an average of 281 days a year in Japan, and the NTA immediately closed the tax investigation.
“The taxpayer’s rights and interests were violated as he was selected for an irregular investigation even though he was a non-resident of Korea and was not suspected of tax evasion,” the National Audit Office concluded.
The NTA also selected a taxpayer who ran a medical center in Daegu as a target for an irregular tax investigation because he was suspected of evading about 1.03 billion won in cash sales from 2017 to 2019.
However, the audit found that the NTA investigation staff visited the clinic three times, counted the number of customers as 52, and estimated the number of credit card payments through the NTA’s computer network as only 42 during that time, and simply applied the estimated cost of cash sales of 19% of the clinic’s previously reported sales to estimate the amount of the embezzlement.메이저놀이터
The auditors ultimately concluded that the alleged omission of cash sales was unsuccessful, noting that “it was difficult to see that there was any obvious evidence to support the suspicion of tax evasion in the report.” The auditors recommended that the government pay more attention to the process of selecting people for irregular tax inspections.