S. Korea to share tax info with British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica

SEOUL, June 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has initialed tax information-sharing deals with the British Virgin Islands and Costa Rica in a bid to intensify its crackdown on offshore tax evasion attempts, the finance ministry said Wednesday.
Under the deals, each will be able to share diverse information on business activities and financial transactions of individuals suspected of engaging in tax evasion, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
The British Virgin Islands along with the Cayman Islands, in particular, is known as one of the major tax havens used by many offshore companies.
Since 2009, South Korea has initialed such information-sharing deals with 14 regions and countries, including the latest two. The move is part of its stepped-up efforts to clamp down on growing offshore tax evasion attempts.
"We will continue to push for information-sharing deals with countries and regions highly likely to be used for offshore tax evasion and where demand for tax information is expected to spike," a ministry official said.
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