SOUTH KOREA: Tax agency launches probes into offshore tax evasion.

As published on en.yna.co.kr, Wednesday 7 July, 2021.

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's tax agency said Wednesday it has launched probes into suspected offshore tax evasion by 46 individuals and companies that dodged taxes using secret overseas accounts or online financial platforms.

The National Tax Service (NTS) said it has strengthened its crackdown on offshore tax evasion on concerns that illegal outflows of money have been detected amid excess liquidity created in the process of tackling the pandemic.

The agency said it is looking into people who opened secret offshore accounts to conceal illegally earned money, and companies which evaded taxes by using fintech and other online trading platforms.

Some multinational firms are also under probe for illegally transferring income to foreign nations via internal transactions with affiliated companies.

Since 2019, the tax office has collected a combined 1.45 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) in unpaid taxes from offshore tax evaders through four rounds of probes into 372 people and companies.