NTS tries to allay probe concerns of entrepreneurs

The nation’s top tax official has sought to ease concerns among businesspeople about the government’s move to strengthen its tax monitoring of firms and vowed to support them with proper tax management.

Speaking at a meeting with a group of enterprises organized by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday, National Tax Service Commissioner Kim Duk-joong also urged business circles to join its push for “clean taxation” polices.

The meeting was organized to appease businesspeople who fear that the strengthened tax policies may become a state-led squeeze for additional tax revenue, an NTS spokesman said.

“We will not save effort to support for companies with proper management in terms of taxation,” the NTS commissioner said at the meeting, noting that most of the NTS’ taxation relied on companies’ voluntarily payment of tax.

He told CEOs that regional tax offices would be equipped with “tax consulting units“ to help owners of small and medium enterprises by May.

Participating CEOs vented concerns about the tax agency’s investigation plan.

Taiyong Shipping Co. president Park Young-an urged the commissioner to ease the corporate burden for overseas account declarations.

“Shipping or trade companies with wide international business networks have hundreds of overseas accounts, and need much more time and human resources to declare all of them,” he said.

Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Cho Sung-je told the NTS head, “We feel that the strength of currently operated tax investigations is different from that of last year.”

The BCCI president said businesspeople fear that the NTS’ declaration of war against the shadow economy may have a side effect on normal business operations.

The NTS head responded that the state project on taxing the shadow economy is set up to advocate ”tax justice“ and is applied to limited areas, such as tax evasions.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)