Yoon Ja-young is in charge of articles translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times. She is interested in improving the newspaper through AI.
Korea shares digitalization strategy in taxation with UK, Bulgaria
National Tax Service (NTS) Commissioner Kim Dae-ji, left, shakes hands with Jim Harra, First Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of the U.K. HM Revenue & Customs, after their meeting in London, March 22. Courtesy of NTS
By Yoon Ja-young
By Yoon Ja-young
Korea's tax agency has shared its digitalization strategy in taxation with its counterparts in the U.K. and Bulgaria and also agreed to coordinate closely with them to tackle offshore tax evasion.
The National Tax Service (NTS) said its commissioner Kim Dae-ji had a meeting with Jim Harra, First Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of the U.K. HM Revenue & Customs, in London, March 22.
At the meeting, the chiefs of the tax agencies of the two countries agreed that exactly grasping incomes and setting up an income data hub are essential in getting rid of blind spots in social welfare as well as enhancing efficiency in budget spending.
National Tax Service (NTS) Commissioner Kim Dae-ji, right, shakes hands with Rumen Spetsov, the head of the National Revenue Agency of Bulgaria, after their meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, March 24. Courtesy of NTS
Governments around the world are eyeing big data of the tax agencies to provide customized social welfare services, especially as income and asset gaps are widening following the pandemic. The U.K. tax agency is known as a leader in this field, linking welfare with its extensive data on income and assets by operating an income data hub.
The two countries also agreed to cooperate to tackle tax evasion which damages the principle that taxes should correspond to incomes. They acknowledged that cases of overseas tax evasion are becoming more sophisticated by using new financial products and virtual assets that make it more difficult for a single country to deal with them. Korea and the U.K. agreed to share cases of overseas tax evasion as well as their knowhow in how to cope with and what infrastructure should be set up to stop tax evasion by the super-rich.
Kim also had a meeting with Rumen Spetsov, the head of the National Revenue Agency of Bulgaria, in the country's capital of Sofia, March 24. It was the first official meeting between the tax agency chiefs of the two countries.
Since Kim's presentation at the 25th General Assembly of Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations in July last year, the Bulgarian tax agency has been interested in Korea's digitalization of taxation, requesting Korea to share its experience.
Stressing that electronic taxation is the shortcut to the upgrading of tax services and fair taxation, Kim presented to the Bulgarian counterpart diverse topics such as Korea's electronic taxation strategy, tasks currently pursued, innovative examples of digitalization in taxation and how Korea successfully implemented a cash receipt system, which Bulgaria also adopted recently to tackle tax evasion.
The NTS said the meetings are part of its "diplomatic efforts” to seek sustainable growth jointly with tax agencies in other countries, and added it will tackle new challenges while contributing to the international community.