April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics, which has been posting record-breaking earnings on the back of robust returns from the chip business, spent a whopping 15 trillion won (US$13.6 billion) to pay taxes around the globe last year, its business report showed on June 18.

The expenditure on taxes at home and abroad in 2017 represents a 70 percent increase from a year earlier, when the South Korean tech giant paid 8.9 trillion won in dues at home and abroad. The record-breaking amount posted last year nearly doubled from 7.8 trillion posted in 2015.

Samsung said the Korean government accounted for 81 percent of the amount, with other Asian countries accounting for 10 percent.

The tech giant posted 239.6 trillion won in sales in 2017, up 18.6 percent on-year. Its operating profit shot up 83.6 percent over the cited period to 53.6 trillion won.

Korea took up 13 percent of the sales posted in 2017, followed by North and South America with 34 percent. Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States accounted for 19 percent and China held 16 percent.

Industry watchers said while Samsung Electronics had most of its sales overseas, it is still paying most of its taxes in Korea as it is headquartered here.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)