South Korea’s tax agency has launched audits of 50 companies suspected of using corporate-owned luxury homes to provide private benefits to their owners and families, putting the spotlight on how high-end residential properties are being used to sidestep taxes and property regulations.The National Tax Service (NTS) said an earlier review found that owners and their family members had privately used 1,097, or 42 per cent, of 2,639 corporate-owned homes surveyed. The properties covered were larger than 85 sq m and had an officially assessed value of more than 900 million won ($651,000), making them subject to the comprehensive real estate holding tax.The 50 companies under audit are suspected of tax irregularities involving a combined 1.9 trillion won, as reported by local news agency Yonhap. The NTS said some firms provided homes to owners’ families, helped them avoid multiple-home ownership and lending restrictions, or maintained luxury vacation properties exclusively for private use.In one case, a company bought a luxury home in central Seoul for more than 20 billion won and spent another 10 billion won in corporate funds on expansion and interior work. Another company bought a roughly 4 billion-won home in a wealthy southern Seoul district and allowed its owner to use it privately without registering the property as his residence.Meanwhile, in Busan, a company purchased a Seoul apartment worth around 4 billion won for its owner’s family and provided it rent-free.The tax agency said the investigation will also expand overseas, targeting corporate-owned homes provided free of charge to owners’ children studying abroad, as well as company-funded tuition and living expenses.
