Korea’s tax agency imposes more than W300b in tax on Oracle Korea
South Korea’s tax agency has imposed more than 300 billion won ($262 million) in corporate taxes on the local unit of US tech giant Oracle Corp. for alleged tax evasion, sources familiar with the issue said Monday.
The National Tax Service (NTS) took the action against Oracle Korea as it suspected that the local unit did not pay corporate taxes by taking advantage of Oracle’s unit in Ireland, a known tax haven, a corporate insider who declined to be identified claimed.
The tax office believes that the amount of unpaid corporate tax by Oracle Korea came to nearly 7 trillion between 2008 and 2014.
The move came after the NTS carried out a tax probe into Korea Oracle in 2014.
South Korea’s Tax Tribunal said on its website that Oracle Korea filed a complaint with the tribunal in April last year against tax agency’s earlier decision to slap an unspecified amount in taxes on the company.
In November, the tribunal rejected Oracle Korea’s complaint, prompting the local unit to file a suit with the Seoul Administrative Court seeking to nullify the imposition of the corporate tax. An official at the tax agency declined to comment on whether administrative action has been taken, citing policy.
An Oracle Korea official claimed that the local unit has faithfully paid taxes according to relevant laws, though the official did not provide any further details, citing the pending court decision.
