Government Holds 'Digital Tax' Meeting with Samsung, SK, and Hyundai Motor to Explore Response Measures

Reference photo. [Photo by Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Junhyung] The government is seeking countermeasures together with companies that will be affected if the global digital tax is introduced in 2023.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 5th, the ministry will hold a digital tax meeting on the afternoon of the 6th at the Korea International Trade Association located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Hyundai Motor. Lee Seungryeol, Director of the New Trade Order Policy at the ministry, will preside over the meeting, and working-level officials from each company will attend.

Earlier, the OECD’s Inclusive Framework (IF) on BEPS, supported by 130 out of 139 countries, released a digital tax agreement. The IF is a multinational forum discussing the implementation of measures to prevent tax avoidance by multinational corporations (BEPS).

Currently, domestic companies subject to the digital tax criteria are Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Hyundai Motor is likely to be included in the digital tax target in the future and decided to attend this meeting. In 2023, considered the first year of implementation, the minimum consolidated revenue threshold is 20 billion euros (approximately 27 trillion KRW), but it is expected to be lowered to a minimum of 10 billion euros (approximately 13 trillion KRW) after 2030.

An official from the ministry said, "Since the global digital tax could affect our companies beyond the tax system, this meeting is to closely examine such aspects." He added, "Since the related negotiations are not yet concluded, we plan to cooperate with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the negotiation body, to reflect companies’ concerns well in the future negotiation process."

In academia, Professor Kim Younghan of Sungkyunkwan University will attend the meeting. Professor Kim plans to share analysis results of the agreement, which anticipate a fluctuation of about 0.4 to 0.5% in domestic tax revenue upon the introduction of the global digital tax.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.