More than 1,000 South Korean individuals and companies have reported to the local tax authority this year of owning more than 1 billion won ($915,164) in overseas accounts.

According to National Tax Service (NTS) on Wednesday, registered overseas accounts held by Korean nationals had a balance of 56.1 trillion won, as of August, up 52.0 percent from the same period a year ago. The account-holders increased 27.5 percent to 1,053.

A total of 541 companies held 51.3 trillion won worth in overseas accounts and another 512 individuals reported 4.8 trillion won. The average amount per person came to 9.3 billion won. Those with more than 5 billion won accounted for 29.7 percent of all individuals.

By financial product, the amount of savings and installment savings accounts reached 42.8 trillion won, or 76.4 percent of capital placed abroad. Stock accounts amounted to 8.3 trillion won, or 14.7 percent, and accounts in derivatives, insurances and funds totaled 5 trillion won, or 8.9 percent.

The favorite offshore destination for individuals to park money was Singapore with 1.32 trillion won. It was followed by the U.S. with 1.29 trillion won, Hong Kong with 926.3 billion won and Japan with 542.5 billion won. Companies preferred Hong Kong, placing 16.59 trillion won worth. China came next with 6.22 trillion won, United Arab Emirates with 4.02 trillion won and Japan with 3.86 trillion won.

NTS believes that the amount of financial accounts in foreign countries grew because of increasing exchanges on tax and finance information among countries and voluntary reporting system of earnings from other countries. In June, NTS required individuals and companies owning more than 1 billion won in overseas accounts last year to report to tax authority and warned to fine up to 20 percent of the holding for unregistering or underreporting. The agency also threatened to take criminal actions to violators. It levied fines of 3.9 trillion won in the first half.

By Lee Sang-duk

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