BAE, KIM & LEE LLC (BKL) said on the 15th it launched the "Tax Solution Center" to strengthen capabilities for responding to tax risks. The center is designed to organically handle the entire process by providing pre-diagnosis of taxes risks, administrative appeal procedures, and tax litigation consolidation for response.
BKL said tax audits have become more sophisticated as tax authorities recently adopted big data and artificial intelligence (AI)-based analysis techniques, and that tax issues are expanding as they combine with accounting, financial regulation, and criminal matters. It noted that ex post objections to taxes make it difficult to manage risk effectively, and said tax issues should be checked from the transaction structure design stage.
BKL's Tax Solution Center is jointly led by advisor Lim Jae-hyun and attorney Cho Il-young. Lim served as director general for tax policy at the Ministry of Finance and Economy and as a standing adjudicator at the Tax Tribunal. Lim is in charge of policy and statutory interpretation. Lee Ju-yoon, a senior advisor from the Ministry of Finance and Economy's Tax Policy Office, provides advice that reflects legislative intent and policy. Advisor Kim Myung-joon, a former chief of the Seoul Regional Tax Service, advisor Park Seok-hyun, who served as head of the Gwangju Regional Tax Service and as director of Investigation Bureau 3 at the Seoul Regional Tax Service, and tax accountant Park Young-sung, formerly of the investigation bureau at the Seoul Regional Tax Service, are among those handling tax audits and responses to taxation.
Attorney Cho Il-young served as the Supreme Court's research judge in charge of taxes. Cho, attorney Kim Kyung-mok, a former senior constitutional researcher at the Constitutional Court, attorney Bang Jin-young, a former Supreme Court research judge, attorney Jang Seong-du, an expert in international taxes and tax litigation, and tax accountant Choi Kwang-baek, a former Deputy Director at the Tax Tribunal, are in charge of tax litigation. BKL recently hired attorney Park In-hye, a former Deputy Director at the Tax Tribunal, to strengthen responses to tax objections.
In addition, accountants Cho Hak-rae and Kwon Yong-jin, formerly of major accounting firms, and advisor Oh Jeong-ui, who handled local government tax affairs at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Supreme Court, are also affiliated with the center.
Center head Lim Jae-hyun said, "Recent taxes issues are changing into a structure that is difficult to resolve with responses to single cases," adding, "Through the Tax Solution Center, we will provide advice that structurally analyzes taxes risks from corporations' decision-making stages and responds in an integrated manner through the ex post stage."