S. Korea, Macau to sign tax information exchange agreement

Macau’s Financial Services Bureau (DSF) has confirmed to Business Daily that the local authority is to sign a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with South Korea, which would add to the existing 15 jurisdictions that have already signed this agreement with the territory. According to the Bureau, its South Korean counterpart is still making preparations to sign the agreement but DSF said it could not give an estimate when the agreement would be signed. As reported by South Korean news agency Yonhap on Sunday, the country’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the agreement would enable authorities to look into financial and taxation information of South Korean companies and citizens based in Macau for cases of tax evasion. The authorities can make requests for business information – including transactions and management structures – from these South Korean companies or individuals but such information can only be used against those concerned, according to Yonhap. The news agency also reported that the agreement to be signed with the Macau authority has yet to be ratified by the South Korean parliament. Currently, MSAR has signed TIEA with 15 jurisdictions. These jurisdictions are Australia, Denmark, Faroes Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, India, Jamaica, Malta, Japan, the United Kingdom, Guernsey and Argentina. The city has also signed Double Taxation Conventions with Mainland China, Portugal, Belgium, Mozambique and Cape Verde, according to the Financial Services Bureau.