National Tax Service finds 42% of high-value corporate houses used privately by owners

The National Tax Service (NTS) has revealed that over 40% of high-priced corporate-owned houses are being used privately by business owners and their families. Following a comprehensive inspection of 2,639 properties subject to comprehensive real estate tax, officials found that 1,097 units were being used as ‘emperor residences’ rather than for legitimate business purposes like employee dormitories or rentals.

The inspected properties had an average declared value exceeding 2 billion won, with some exceeding 10 billion won and the highest priced unit surpassing 20 billion won. Misuse cases included providing luxury apartments in prime Seoul locations, such as Gangnam, Yongsan, and areas with Han River views, to owners or their children. Other identified practices involved using corporate funds to purchase high-end condos for private use or transferring personal high-value homes to corporate names to evade multi-homeowner taxes.

NTS Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun stated that such behavior is a significant signal of tax evasion risks within companies. The agency plans to launch intensive tax audits on corporations where private use is confirmed and will expand its scrutiny to include the unauthorized use of corporate funds for overseas housing and tuition for owners' children.