이 누리집은 대한민국 공식 전자정부 누리집입니다.
Biz News Korea(Eng)
NTP follows Microsoft in suing Korean tax authority for excessive royalty tax levy
- Collected
- 2016.09.26
- Distributed
- 2016.09.27
- Source
- Go Direct
According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, National Tax Service, and the legal circle on Sunday, NTP has filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court against the country’s tax authority, claiming a refund of 2.1 billion won in corporate tax. What NTP is demanding is to redeem tax that has been levied on the royalties the U.S. company charged on large Korean manufacturers for using its patents.
NTP’s move comes after Microsoft asked the National Tax Service last month to refund 634 billion won in corporate taxes it has paid for the income on patent royalty from Samsung Electronics Co.
Local regulators maintain the levy is just according to the corporate tax law revised eight years ago that require taxation on revenue from patents registered outside Korea as well if the products are manufactured and sold on home turf.
A majority of core patent technologies used by local information technology (IT) firms to manufacture smartphones and computers are owned by U.S. companies including Microsoft, Qualcomm Inc., and IBM Corporation, and about 80 percent of Korea’s royalty payments go to U.S. companies a year.
The Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea estimate Korea paid about 23.5 trillion won from 2011 to 2015 in royalties, and U.S. patent holders owed about 3.5 trillion won on the royalty income from Korean companies during the period.
By Lee Seung-yoon
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]