As the government intensifies its focus on digital currency, celebrities were found among the list of people hit.
Pay Your Taxes
If you are looking to skip out on paying taxes, you may want to think again. Several wealthy South Koreans, including an undisclosed famous TV host and a doctor, found out the hard way after officials launched a massive crackdown. The target? Tax evaders using cryptocurrency to hide their big earnings.
A large amount of Bitcoin and Ethereum, plus some other digital assets, were seized from 12,000 people. In the end, the added value for all of it ended up to be a mind-blowing $47 million!
Extremely Effective Operations
In an effort to hit people who rely on digital currencies to get around the domestic tax rulings, several South Korean provinces have performed multiple operations over the past few months. The operations have turned out to be extremely effective and as you can see also very profitable.
This particular operation turned out to be the most prominent crypto seizure for back taxes in Korean history. Not bad at all!
Keeping a Closer Eye on the Crypto Market
South Korean financial regulators have been working hard to tighten its oversight of the crypto currency and these seizures are a result of it. The Korean government is also working on how to impose an income tax on cryptocurrency trading.
Director-General of the Gyeonggi Province Fairness Bureau, Kim Ji-ye, was understandably pleased with the operation and said:
“We will do our utmost to protect law-abiding taxpayers and fulfill our fair taxation mandate by probing and tracing assets that tax dodgers may be concealing in the midst of the recent cryptocurrency trading fervor”.
Connect the Dots
In order to find the targets, mobile phones played an important part. Comparing phone numbers registered at the crypto exchange with those accused of tax evasion, was one of the clues that led to the arrests.
One of them, a Korean real estate investor, owed 30 million Korean won (about $27,000) in taxes but turns out to have 1.1 billion Korean won tucked away in cryptocurrency. Another person is a doctor with more than 2.8 billion Korean won in Bitcoin. Yikes!
What Happens Next?
Authorities said “confiscation procedures” of the crypto assets have been finalised. What will happen now is that Insolvency and liquidation proceedings of the assets will take place. That is unless the people arrested do not voluntarily pay the overdue taxes.
Leave a Reply