Largest case of offshore tax evasion uncovered

By Kim Jae-won

The nation’s tax authorities have slapped 410 billion won in punitive and back taxes on a shipping firm owner for allegedly using foreign tax havens to stash away company funds.

This is the single largest offshore tax evasion case using tax havens, the National Tax Service said Monday. The amount also accounted for 85.5 percent of 474 billion won that has been levied on overseas tax evasion for the first quarter of this year.

The owner operates a fleet of 160 vessels, the NTS said. The service forwarded the case to prosecutors for investigations last month.

“The company owner has managed his business based in Seoul, but evaded taxes through scores of paper companies based in offshore tax havens, which include Hong Kong, Panama and the Cayman Islands,” said Park Yun-jun, an assistant commissioner for international taxation at the tax office during a press conference.

But the office didn’t identify the tax cheat, citing the National Tax Basic Law, which prohibits unveiling taxpayers’ personal information.

The businessman did not pay taxes while hiding his profits in overseas bank accounts in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong, the NTS said.

Foreign tax agencies assisted in discovering his overseas bank accounts.

Two accounting companies — one Hong Kong branch of a global accounting company and a Korean accounting firm — provided tax evasion schemes for the businessman, the authorities said. The NTS is reporting them to the prosecutors’ office for abetting the tax evasion.

There were 41 cases of tax evasion uncovered from January to March, with people putting their personal wealth in overseas tax havens or falsifying export and import documents, the NTS said.

The NTS plans to step up cooperation with countries such as the United States, Britain, Japan and Canada to bring more tax cheats to justice.

“Overseas tax evasion is a serious crime. We will pursue offshore tax evaders to the end no matter how much time it takes,” Kim Moon-soo, deputy commissioner of the office, said.

The total amount of fines is close to 50 percent of the NTS’s target of 1 trillion won to ferret out and penalize offshore tax evasion schemes this year.

국세청, 역대 최대 역외탈세 사례 적발

국세청이 조세피난처를 이용해 탈세를 한 혐의를 받고 있는 한 해운회사 사주에게 4,100억원 상당의 추징금을 부과했다.

이는 조세피난처를 이용한 사례 중 가장 규모가 큰 사건이라고 국세청이 월요일 밝혔다.

이 금액은 국세청이 1분기 동안 역외탈세 분야에서 징수한 4,740억원의 약 85.5%에 해당하는 금액이다.

이 사주는 160척의 선박을 운영하고 있다고 국세청은 말했다. 국세청은 지난달 이 사주를 검찰에 조세포탈 혐의로 고발했다.

“이 사주는 서울에서 영업을 하면서도 홍콩, 파나마, 케이만군도 등에 있는 수십 개의 페이퍼컴퍼니를 통해 탈세를 했다”고 국세청 박윤준 국제조세관리관이 기자회견에서 말했다.

하지만 국세청은 국세기본법에 보장돼 있는 납세자의 사생활 보호를 이유로 이 사주의 신상은 밝히지 않았다.