Tax delinquents tracked even if they hide assets with coins…National Tax Service: "Strengthening enforcement up to 'cold wallet'"

The National Tax Service said it is strengthening tracking and enforcement using a virtual asset (cryptocurrency) tracking system not only for exchange accounts but also for offline storage 'cold wallets (cold wallet)'.

According to the National Tax Service on the 9th, domestic virtual asset investors have surged nearly tenfold from about 1.2 million five years ago to 10.77 million as of June this year. Average daily trading value also increased from 1 trillion won to 6.4 trillion won. As virtual assets have become more widespread, there are also concerns that high-value tax delinquents are increasingly using coins as a means to divert assets.

The seizure of delinquents' virtual assets is carried out by the National Tax Service checking held accounts through exchanges. If the query confirms coin holdings, the account is immediately suspended from trading, and the assets are later sold and used to collect the tax arrears. According to NTS data, over the past four years a total of 14,140 delinquents had virtual assets seized and collected in this way, and the amount collected reached about 146.1 billion won.

The National Tax Service explained that it analyzes delinquents' transaction histories in detail using a virtual asset tracking program, and if signs of assets being concealed offline are detected, it secures those assets through search and seizure. The authorities plan to continuously strengthen enforcement against attempts to hide assets using digital assets.