NTS to set up a dedicated control tower to crack down on virtual-asset tax evasion

The National Tax Service (NTS) will focus all its efforts this year on managing tax revenue budgets exceeding 380 trillion won. It will launch a delinquency management task force to intensively oversee tax evasion and will respond strictly to offshore tax evasion as well. A major transformation project leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) will also be put into full swing.

On the 26th, the NTS held a nationwide meeting of heads of regional tax offices for the first half of the year at the Government Complex Sejong and announced its “2026 National Tax Administration Operating Plan.”

The NTS’s tax revenue budget under its jurisdiction this year stands at 381.7 trillion won, up 19.1 trillion won from last year’s supplementary budget. The agency plans to strengthen support for voluntary filings while making verification of returns and collection activities for delinquencies more systematic to manage the revenue base in a stable manner.

First, it will seek to stabilize livelihoods and expand tax administration support for businesses. For small merchants, it will push measures to ease burdens such as extending payment deadlines and expanding application of simplified taxation, and it will establish a “SME and Small Merchant Tax Difficulty Resolution Center” to provide guidance on various tax support programs including deductions and exemptions.

It also plans to offer tailored tax administration support—such as extended payment deadlines—to exporters struggling amid deteriorating external conditions stemming from tariff measures and to the petrochemical, steel and construction industries, which are heavily affected by China-driven supply gluts.

In particular, the NTS will introduce a “timing selection system” for regular tax audits, allowing taxpayers to choose the audit timing within a three-month window, and will disclose “key inspection items” in advance to enhance predictability and ease the audit burden. It will also operate a program to defer regular tax audits by up to two years for “good price” establishments that contributed to price stability, high-performing exporting SMEs, and startups.

Delinquency management will be tightened through a more granular framework.

The “National Tax Delinquency Management Task Force” will be launched in March to investigate the status of all delinquent taxpayers and implement tailored management by type.

Based on these assessments, the NTS will review measures to help livelihood-related delinquents get back on their feet, including expiration of the obligation to pay delinquent taxes, while continuing strong collection actions against intentional and habitual delinquents, such as strengthened tracing investigations and auctioning seized assets.

It will take a strict stance against tax avoidance. In particular, for multinational companies that earn profits domestically while avoiding taxes through improper means, it will build an all-encompassing net ranging from offshore tax evasion probes to recovery of assets hidden overseas.

For hidden assets found during tracing investigations, it will actively pursue collection cooperation, and it will expand the signing of intergovernmental MOUs to ensure swift implementation of such cooperation.

Across tax administration, the NTS will step up the introduction of AI technologies. With the aim of launching the main project in 2027, it will push a comprehensive roadmap for the “AI Great Transformation of National Tax Administration,” and plans to introduce generative-AI chatbots, phone consultations, and an AI search service for Hometax in phases.

To respond to virtual-asset tax evasion, it will build a dedicated control tower and, in parallel, prepare a transaction information tracking and analysis system as well as an automatic exchange of information (AEOI) regime for crypto assets.

In addition, to integrate the collection system for non-tax national revenues that is dispersed across some 300 laws, the NTS will launch a “Task Force for Preparing Integrated Collection of Non-Tax National Revenues” and, after checking the status of delinquents, will build the foundation for phased integrated collection.

NTS Commissioner Lim Gwang-hyeon said, “Change and innovation at the NTS begin with voices from the field,” adding, “As we mark the 60th anniversary of the NTS this year, I ask heads of offices to join in so we can achieve a new leap forward in national tax administration through proactive administration and a spirit of challenge toward the future.”

Reporter Lee Hae-gon pinvol1973@wowtv.co.kr