Mercedes-Benz Korea, which caused controversy over its emission gas rigging, is under intense tax investigation by tax authorities, according to a May 9 report of etoday.
The National Tax Service (NTS) dispatched agents from the International Trade Investigation Bureau of the Seoul Regional Tax Office to the headquarters of Benz Korea in Seoul late last month and is conducting a months-long tax probe.
The tax probe into Mercedes-Benz Korea is the first in three years since 2015. At that time, the NTS collected about 64 billion won from Mercedes-Benz Korea. Afterwards, Mercedes-Benz Korea filed a lawsuit against the tax authorities for some taxable items.
The Seoul Central District Court earlier fined Mercedes-Benz Korea 2.7 billion won for violating the air environment conservation law and customs law.
Mercedes-Benz Korea has been indicted on charges of bringing some 7,000 vehicles equipped with emission gas-related parts that have yet to be certified for change by environmental authorities into the country.
The court later found Mercedes-Benz Korea guilty of the charges, but fined it only 2.7 billion won, saying there were errors in the number of vehicles.
Regarding the tax probe, Mercedes-Benz Korea told the etoday that it was collected 64.5 billion won during the 2015 tax audit and that the company has filed a complaint with the tax tribunal, which ordered a reinvestigation after the judge judged that its complaint was reasonable.
