South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) is looking to utilise its current and planned tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with other countries to investigate taxpayers with suspected undeclared foreign bank accounts.
Apart from its existing general efforts to enhance its cooperation with overseas tax authorities and identify those taxpayers who have transferred funds abroad in order to avoid the payment of South Korean taxes, the NTS has identified seven particular countries with which it wants to expedite the exchange of data – Switzerland, Malaysia, Austria, Panama, the Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong.
South Korea has signed TIEAs with Switzerland, Malaysia and Austria, and hopes to conclude further such agreements with the remainder of those countries. However, doubts remain as to when the agreements can be ratified, although the NTS hopes that those that have already been signed can be considered by the South Korean parliament as early as possible in the next parliamentary session from September this year.
The NTS had disclosed, in January this year, that it was to make permanent a 15-member anti-evasion task force, and that it hoped to identify over KRW1 trillion (USD923m) in tax evaded by South Korean business and individuals. It is particularly interested in scrutinizing foreign investments by South Korean residents, including the opening by businesses of vehicles in offshore jurisdictions and remittances abroad by individuals for investment purposes.
Apart from its existing general efforts to enhance its cooperation with overseas tax authorities and identify those taxpayers who have transferred funds abroad in order to avoid the payment of South Korean taxes, the NTS has identified seven particular countries with which it wants to expedite the exchange of data – Switzerland, Malaysia, Austria, Panama, the Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong.
South Korea has signed TIEAs with Switzerland, Malaysia and Austria, and hopes to conclude further such agreements with the remainder of those countries. However, doubts remain as to when the agreements can be ratified, although the NTS hopes that those that have already been signed can be considered by the South Korean parliament as early as possible in the next parliamentary session from September this year.
The NTS had disclosed, in January this year, that it was to make permanent a 15-member anti-evasion task force, and that it hoped to identify over KRW1 trillion (USD923m) in tax evaded by South Korean business and individuals. It is particularly interested in scrutinizing foreign investments by South Korean residents, including the opening by businesses of vehicles in offshore jurisdictions and remittances abroad by individuals for investment purposes.
