National Tax Service to expand oversight to traffic fines, development levies

South Korea's National Tax Service is moving to transform itself into a unified fiscal revenue authority — to be rebranded the Korea Revenue Service, or KRS — that would oversee not only national taxes but also a wide range of non-tax government income, including traffic fines and development levies.

Commissioner Lim Gwang-hyeon announced the agency's second-year work agenda at a press briefing Wednesday at the Government Sejong Complex, held to mark the first anniversary of the People's Sovereignty Government.

"We will go beyond our existing role as a national tax collection agency and leap forward as an integrated fiscal revenue institution that leads innovation in state finances," Lim said. "We will bring together scattered streams of government revenue and manage them without gaps."

Non-tax revenue refers to income the government earns outside of taxation. It includes traffic fines collected by the Korean National Police Agency, environmental levies administered by the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, and proceeds from the sale of state-owned assets handled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. As of the end of last year, non-tax revenue stood at 284 trillion won (about $186 billion) — roughly 53 trillion won less than national tax revenue of 337 trillion won, but equivalent to about 40 percent of this year's government budget of 727 trillion won.

Critics have long argued that efficiency suffers because revenue streams are currently managed in fragmented fashion by individual ministries and agencies under more than 300 separate laws. President Lee Jae Myung has repeatedly stressed the need to consolidate oversight of non-tax revenue.

In response, the National Tax Service will launch a dedicated non-tax revenue delinquency management unit as early as next month to assess the scale of unpaid obligations and quickly establish a tailored collection system. The agency will also prepare the legal groundwork — including a unified collection law, IT infrastructure, and the necessary organizational capacity and staffing — to support the broader integration.

The agency also plans to sharpen its response to tax evasion. Lim said the service would complete an automated system capable of flagging suspected evasion, adding that it aims to become "an agency that deals with malicious tax evaders more strictly than anyone." He framed the goal as establishing firm tax justice in which antisocial tax evasion and delinquency have no place.

"We will continue to root out tax evasion that draws public outrage — such as the personal use of luxury homes and supercars," Lim said.