Tax officials use AI big data analytic system to detect borrowed-name accounts

SEOUL -- To stop tax evasion using borrowed-name accounts, South Korean tax officials have developed an artificial intelligence-based big data analytic system that can analyze various data including tax invoices, cash receipts and data of relatives and friends.

The National Tax Service (NTS) put the new system into demonstration this month. "We believe that when the financial transaction analytic system kicks into full gear in August, we would be able to react more quickly to tax evasion using borrowed-name accounts," the agency said in a statement.

The new system is the brainchild of NTS' AI and big data research center established in July last year. For good reasons, it will be used to provide help for taxpayers by analyzing credit card payments and tax invoices and improve their financial position such as ways to avoid a cash crunch.

The current NTS transaction analytic system is used to monitor offshore tax evasion by analyzing foreign exchange receipts using similar keywords to pick suspicious offshore account-related activities.