[THE INVESTOR] BTC Korea.com, the company behind Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, is facing back taxes amounting to 30 billion won (US$28 million), although it was not found guilty of tax evasion, industry sources said on June 8.

The National Tax Service has decided to impose the corporate and income taxes after a three-month long probe into the fast-growing company. The agency launched an audit on Jan. 10 after noting that it received enormous revenue from commissions and cryptocurrencies. 

Bithumb, once the largest virtual currency exchange in the country, logged 333 billion won in sales and 427 billion won net profit in 2017. It reflects a huge jump from 2016 which saw 4.3 billion won in sales and 2.5 billion won net profit.

“Bithumb has decided to pay the taxes in full without any objection,” said an industry source, adding that the NTS reviewed its finance books from 2014 to 2017.

Bithumb, meanwhile, denied that it has received any formal notice. “We have not received anything from the NTS yet,” a Bithumb official told The Investor.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)