Google and Apple Generated 4 Trillion Won in Sales in Korea... 6.5 Times Increase Compared to 5 Years Ago

On the 10th, customers visiting Apple Myeongdong, the third Apple Store in Korea located in Jung-gu, Seoul, are experiencing the products. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] It has been revealed that overseas big tech companies such as Google and Apple generated approximately 4 trillion won in sales in South Korea last year.

On the 20th, Jin Sun-mi, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, received data on "Value-Added Taxation of Electronic Services by Foreign Businesses" from the National Tax Service. According to the data, the total taxable amount reported by foreign declarants in 2021 was 3.9846 trillion won.

This figure is 6.5 times that of 2016 (612.1 billion won), and the number of declarants increased from 66 to 209 during the same period.

Among the sales of foreign businesses, large corporations such as Google and Apple account for the majority. Last year, the total taxable amount reported by the top 10 foreign businesses was 3.7086 trillion won, representing 93.1% of the total reported amount.

Since these are foreign corporations without a domestic fixed place of business, they report and pay a 10% value-added tax through simplified business registration under current tax laws.