The National Tax Service (NTS) visited the headquarters of Delivery Hero Korea in Seocho-gu, Seoul on Aug. 26 and launched a tax investigation. The investigation was conducted by the fourth bureau of the Seoul Regional Tax Office, which is known as the "special department" of the NTS.
Delivery Hero Korea, which operates the delivery application "Yogiyo," is under tax investigation for the first time since its foundation in November 2011.
Delivery Hero Korea launched the Yogiyo service in August 2012, nine months after the company's establishment.
Related industry sources say the NTS is looking into whether Delivery Hero Korea is suspected of dodging tax payments at a time when sales have increased due to the spread of COVID-19.
Delivery Hero Korea is a subsidiary of a Germany-based multinational company called Delivery Hero.
Above all, Delivery Hero is currently undergoing a corporate merger review to take over Woowa Brothers Corp. who runs the Baemin. As a result, the tax investigation is drawing keen attention to how the tax probe will affect the corporate merger review in the future.
Delivery Hero announced in December last year that it would acquire Woowa Brothers. The acquisition amount reaching 4 trillion won ($3.3 billion) alone has attracted a lot of attention in the industry.
Yogiyo, the second-largest delivery app, and Delivery Hero, which owns the third-largest delivery app Bdtong, have even taken over the top-ranked Baemin.
According to the findings, some predict that the merger will be subject to strict standards. The retail industry is concerned that the merger of Baemin, the No. 1 delivery app, and Yogiyo, the No. 2 player, into a foreign company could lead to monopolistic tyranny.
