Korean tax authority is probing into Paldo on suspicion of tax evasion
The National Tax Service (NTS) Seoul Regional Office has been probing into a Korean processed food maker Paldo Company Ltd. since June on possible overseas tax evasion.
According to the NTS Sunday, it has deployed international transaction investigators to investigate whether the instant food maker manipulated its transfer price to evade corporate taxes.
A transfer price is the price of goods or services that are internally transacted among different divisions or country entities of a multinational firm. It is a major concern in international taxation as it is often used to minimize profits in high-tax countries for tax evasion.
The NTS is looking into international transactions of Paldo to find whether it used transfer pricing to reduce its tax liabilities and give unfair support to certain subsidiaries.
Paldo, the nation’s fourth-largest instant noodle maker by market share, is a de facto holding company of top yogurt maker Korea Yakult Corp. with a 40.8 percent stake. It is fully owned by Yoon Ho-joong, the eldest son of Korea Yakult chairman Yoon Deok-byung.
The Korean operation of Chinese smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Co. is also under a tax investigation on alleged transfer pricing manipulation.
Able C&C Co., a cosmetics manufacturer with popular budget cosmetics brand Missha and a coffeehouse chain Tom & Tom’s Coffee are also scrutinized by the Korean tax agency on tax evasion allegations.