Tax agency to probe 41 businesses for causing consumer price instability

The South Korean National Tax Service (NTS) has initiated probes into 41 businesses, including agricultural product retailers, grain and meat suppliers, food franchises, and the largest food delivery platform, Baedal Minjok or Baemin, for allegedly engaging in unfair practices and contributing to consumer price instability. The investigation targets businesses that inflated production costs and passed the burden onto consumers, underreported profits, and manipulated costs.

Notably, Baemin avoided around 100 billion won (US$74.3 million) in taxes through complex capital transactions with its German parent company. The NTS aims to curb inflation ahead of the Chuseok holiday and will continue to monitor tax evasion schemes in areas closely related to people's livelihoods.

Brief written by urgent.news from Yonhap News's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.