Korea and Singapore team up to find tax cheats living abroad

The Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it signed an agreement with Singapore Friday to share financial information on Koreans and Singaporeans living in each others countries. This is targeted at foiling tax dodges.

Under the agreement, the two countries will collect information on each others’ nationals and exchange the information in 2018.

A finance ministry official said there has been previous cooperation between the two countries on information on tax dodgers.

But Friday’s agreement increases such cooperation and will lead to long-term exchanges that will prevent tax dodging.

The Korean government plans to extend such agreements with 38 countries next year including the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland and 31 countries more, including Switzerland, Japan and Canada, in 2018.