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Thirteen foreign firms have been slapped with additional taxes of W36.3 billion (US$33 million) for evading tax or using tax loopholes to reduce their taxes when purchasing large buildings worth trillions of won. The city has asked the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) to pay W16.7 billion in additional tax for its purchase of Star Tower from the offshore investment firm Lone Star.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government says it picked out 66 foreign-owned companies suspected of dodging taxes among 126 that conducted large-scale real estate transactions since 1998. Twenty of them have been subjected to an inspection and slapped with additional taxes. The city plans to start investigating the remaining 46 within the first half of this year. The move announced Tuesday is independent of tax investigations conducted by the National Tax Service of foreign firms starting with Lone Star and Newbridge Capital.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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