Under the country’s tax law, Korean nationals who have more than 500 million won in foreign financial accounts are obliged to report it to the authorities. Otherwise, they will be fined up to 20 percent of their undeclared money. (Image credit: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)
SEJONG, Sept. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – The total amount of money that South Koreans deposited in overseas financial accounts increased in 2018 from a year earlier as authorities push forward efforts to identify hidden assets abroad, the tax office said Thursday.
A total of 1,287 companies and individuals reported overseas accounts this year, up 13.6 percent from a year earlier, with the amount in the accounts rising 8.7 percent on-year to 66.4 trillion won (US$59.3 billion), according to the National Tax Service (NTS).
Individuals reported a combined 6.9 trillion won worth of financial assets in overseas accounts, while 551 corporations held deposits totaling 59.5 trillion won.
Under the country’s tax law, Korean nationals who have more than 500 million won in foreign financial accounts are obliged to report it to the authorities. Otherwise, they will be fined up to 20 percent of their undeclared money.
Since 2011, when the government started clamping down in earnest on those not disclosing overseas accounts, the NTS has discovered 300 people who tried to conceal overseas accounts and ordered them to pay 85.7 billion won in fines.
(Yonhap)
