Overseas account holders required to report to NTS by June or face fine

2020.06.04 14:42:12 | 2020.06.04 14:42:37

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South Korean nationals who have more than 500 million won ($410,644) in financial accounts overseas must voluntarily report to the National Tax Service (NTS) by the end of this month or face fine of up to 20 percent of the undeclared amount.

The nation¡¯s tax authority said Wednesday that people who held more than 500 million won in assets including cash, equities, bonds, collective investment securities and derivative securities in overseas accounts even for a day at the end of every month last year should report them. If the undeclared assets are traced, the account holders will face fine, surcharge, criminal charge and identity disclosure, the authority said.

Any accounts including dormant, cancelled and borrowed-name ones are subject to report.

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The overseas account reporting act was introduced in 2011 when 525 reported a combined 11.5 trillion won in overseas assets. The number of filers and amount of assets have steadily increased to 2,165 and 61.5 trillion won in 2019.

The filing can be done at the NTS¡¯ website.

Non-filers or under-reporters are subject to fines of up to 20 percent of the undeclared amount. If the amount exceeds 5 billion won, the offenders will receive a criminal penalty and have their names released to the public. They also face a fine of 650 million won surcharge of 20 percent of the increment above 5 billion won.

Those who tip off the tax authority about important information regarding non-filers will receive up to 2 billion won in reward.

By Moon Jae-yong and Choi Mira

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