Tax Evasion
The Incheon International Airport Corporation was recently hit with a huge tax bill in the wake of its large-scale tax evasion.
“The National Tax Service has levied 228.8 billion won on the corporation in corporate taxes and surtaxes after two regular investigations since 2008,” said opposition Democratic United Party lawmaker Kang Dong-won.
Specifically, the corporation was charged with 69.7 billion won (US$66.1 million) in corporate taxes and 37.1 billion won (US$35.2 million) in surtaxes in 2008, when it underwent a 70-day investigation. Fines totaling 106.8 billion won (US$101.3 million) were levied for 15 cases of tax evasion. The numbers increased to 26 cases and 122 billion won (US$115.8 million) last year. Out of that, 81.8 billion won (US$77.7 million) was corporate taxes, and 40.2 billion won (US$38.2 million) was surtax.
“The result of the tax investigation has significantly compromised the transparency of the state-run enterprise,” the lawmaker explained, adding, “Public enterprises will have to improve their accounting and management transparency so the same incident does not repeat itself down the road.”