The Korean Taxpayers' Federation of South Korea said it would take legal action over the alleged leak of tax investigation details involving singer and actor Cha Eun-woo. This event has led to more scrutiny of how sensitive taxpayer information is handled.
The civic group, which protects people's rights regarding taxes, said it would file a formal complaint with the police about the release of information related to Cha's tax audit. The move comes after many news outlets reported that information about the investigation had been leaked to the press, which raised worries about possible breaches of privacy and government secrecy.
MyDaily says that the Korean Taxpayers' Federation sent out a notice on February 9 that explained what they wanted to do.
The group said in the statement, "Tomorrow (the 10th) at 11 AM, regarding the incident where tax information related to actor Cha Eun-woo's tax investigation was leaked to the press, we plan to report the unnamed tax official who leaked the information and the reporter who first reported it to the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and disclosing official secrets under the Criminal Act."
The federation stressed that leaking tax-related information is against the law and asked for more investigation into the events that led to the leak. It also stressed how important it is for the National Tax Service to explain how the information got out.
Naver has already indicated that the group has also discussed other misunderstandings about tax audits and added tax charges. The federation has previously stated, "Tax avoidance is a taxpayer's right. If tax avoidance is successful, it is 'tax saving,' and if it fails, it is 'tax evasion.'" The group also said that in real life, the difference between the two ideas is often hard to see.
The federation went on to talk about how the public thinks about tax investigations. It said, "Taxpayers can assert their legal rights to reduce or avoid taxes imposed on them within the scope permitted by law, and this is absolutely not a problem," This was said because people often think that paying more taxes is wrong.
The group also strongly criticized how the disclosure process worked. It said,"Leaking tax information is illegal,"and added,"Information related to a celebrity's tax audit would be difficult to report (to the media) without a tax official leaking the information."
The statement went on to say that if the authorities don't do anything, it could be seen as negligence. It said, "If the Commissioner of the National Tax Service turns a blind eye to the leak without investigating whether it was leaked, it would constitute 'dereliction of duty.'"
Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that Cha was notified of an additional tax levy of approximately 20 billion won following an irregular tax audit conducted in July last year.
Cha's agency has said that there were differences in how the rules were interpreted and that there were misunderstandings. They have also asked for a review before taxes are due while the investigation is still going on.
