Tax agency collects $23 mil. unpaid taxes by uncovering hidden overseas assets
A foreign athlete who earned a high salary in Korea’s professional sports league left the country for an overseas team without filing taxes, only to be tracked down and forced to pay up overdue income tax, according to the National Tax Service (NTS), Monday. The agency identified the player’s assets through information-sharing with foreign tax authorities and recovered the unpaid taxes through cross-border collection. The athlete ultimately settled the arrears through a local representative. The case underscores a broader push by the tax agency, which has recovered a total of 33.9 billion won ($23 million) in delinquent taxes over the past nine months through cooperation with tax authorities in three countries. The amount, recovered since NTS Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun took office in July 2025, accounts for the bulk of the agency's total cross-border collections of 37.2 billion won since 2015. In another instance, a foreign business operator left Korea during an ongoing tax audit, anticipating a hefty bill. The NTS traced its financial accounts in a third country along with high-val
