A South Korean province has seized cryptocurrencies worth over $5 million from 1,661 investors who were more than $12 million in arrears on their fines in total. The seizure followed an examination of almost 30,000 business and people in addition to their cryptocurrency holdings at 4 exchanges.
Korean Province Confiscates Cryptocurrencies for Unpaid Fines
The South Korean province of Gyeonggi, the most populous province in the country, announced last week that it had seized 6.1 billion won ($5.14 million) in cryptocurrencies from 1,661 people who were 14.4 billion won in arrears on their fines in total.
The authorities described that from May to August in 2015, they performed an examination of 29,656 business and people who were overdue on their payments of 1 million won or more under the classification of “nontaxable income.” This includes examining their cryptocurrency holdings at four exchanges.
Nontaxable earnings in South Korea describes earnings enforced and gathered in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act, such as federal government costs and administrative fines.
For example, a clothing wholesaler did not pay the enforcement fees of 20 million won imposed on him last year for illegally building an extension to his factory. However, the examination exposed that he had actually 500 million won in cryptocurrency.
The CEO of a frozen food company in Namyangju had 600 million won in cryptocurrency even after paying 40 million won in arrears, including the enforcement fee imposed for illegally changing his business establishment to a warehouse in 2017.
The owner of a regional property rental business, who had actually been 50 million won in financial obligations considering that 2018 for structure unlawful extensions and making land quality modifications, owned 60 million won in cryptocurrency.
Kim Min-kyung, head of Gyeonggi’s taxation department, was quoted by local media as saying:
It is the largest amount of cryptocurrency seizure in the country for nontaxable income delinquents.
While this seizure might be the biggest under the nontaxable earnings classification, the province has actually taken more cryptocurrencies prior to. In June, the government of Gyeonggi Province reportedly seized cryptocurrencies worth more than 53 billion won from about 12,000 people who were delinquent on their tax payments.
