South Korea tax chief vows to keep challenging big tech tax cases

South Korea’s tax chief, Lim Kwang-hyun, said the tax authority would keep trying to collect taxes from global technology companies.

He spoke during a parliamentary audit in Sejong on October 13.

Courts recently ruled partly in Google Korea’s favor in a 154 billion won tax case, while Meta won a separate 200 billion won case.

Lim said some global technology firms avoid corporate tax by operating without a business establishment in South Korea.

The tax authority has argued that it can still tax their Korean earnings, but courts have not accepted its arguments in these cases.

Lim said an international digital tax could address the problem, but noted that the United States opposes it.

He said South Korea would continue doing what it could to defend its right to tax companies’ earnings there.