SEOUL, April 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's national tax office said Monday that it has slapped a combined 474.1 billion won (US$437.1 million) in penalties on businessmen and companies for evading taxes in the first quarter.

   There were 41 cases of tax evasion detected in the first three months of this year, and those cheaters evaded taxes by hiding personal wealth in overseas tax havens or falsifying export and import documents, the National Tax Service (NTS) said.

   The total amount of fines is close to 50 percent of the NTS's target to ferret out and penalize offshore tax evasion schemes this year, it added.

   The tax office said it has levied 410.1 billion won in penalty taxes on a businessman who operates a fleet of 160 vessels through various paper companies headquartered in a tax haven. The office didn't disclose the identity of the tax cheater.

   "The person, who resides in South Korea, has never paid local taxes while holding profits in accounts in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong," the NTS said.

   The office said it plans to step up cooperation with foreign countries such as the United States, Britain, Japan and Canada to find others who may have tried to violate the law.

   "Every effort will be made to pursue people and firms that try not to pay taxes by using offshore tax evasion methods," the office said.

   yonngong@yna.co.kr
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