U.S., S.K. tax officials agree to fight evasion

3-day meeting of OECD tax representatives starts in Seoul

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioner Mark Everson met his South Korean counterpart Jun Gun-pyo yesterday, and the two expressed their agreement with the need to combat tax evasion. Their discussion came prior to the third meeting of tax officials from member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) due to be held in Seoul today.

Jun, of Korea’s National Tax Service (NTX), said to Everson, "As an increasing number of foreign enterprises has entered South Korea, the people have become more concerned about tax evasion."

In response, Everson said that "the upcoming conference is very important, in that delegates from over 30 countries take part in it. I appreciate South Korea’s leadership for holding this meeting for the development of the worldwide tax administration. I also hold a strong position against tax evasion," he said.

Everson’s speech was short, but the NTX sees it as a very meaningful one in consideration of the fact that the OECD meeting was held in part to discuss the problem of international tax havens.

Lee Seung-jae, an NTS official, said, "The U.S. has also had a lot of trouble imposing taxes on American companies because they don’t bring their income into the nation, but rather move it to tax havens. America has recently shown a strong interest in the prevention of tax evasion committed through those havens."

The three-day meeting of tax officials from OECD member nations opens today in Seoul, with Korea its first host nation in Asia. The representatives will discuss ways to establish a cooperative system in connection with the use of tax treaties to prevent tax evasion.

Jun met with the U.S. and Canadian delegations yesterday, and starting today he will hold discussions with his Chinese and Japanese counterparts to coordinate with them regarding any difficulty arising from companies doing business in those two countries.

The 30 OECD member countries, including the U.S. and Japan, and nine non-member countries, such as China and India, participated in the meeting. Malaysia, suspected of being an international tax haven, sent its representative to the meeting, as well.