What you need to know
- South Korea charged Samsung with paying corporate taxes on behalf of Microsoft due to patent fees.
- Because the Microsoft patents in question are unregistered in South Korea, Samsung argued it shouldn't have to pay corporate taxes on them as a result of patent fees.
- The Supreme Court of South Korea has sided with Samsung, ordering an 11.3 billion won refund (which translates to approximately $9.3 million USD).
Samsung was accused of tax-dodging patent usage fees originating from a deal in July 2011. Now, the 15% extra Samsung paid to satisfy South Korean tax officials has been officially declared undue, and the Supreme Court of South Korea has decided that Samsung's entitled to a $9.3 million tax refund (which translates to roughly 11.3 billion won).
The situation: Samsung was utilizing Microsoft patents that were unregistered in South Korea, but tax officials still felt they were entitled to money, so Samsung paid 15% of the relevant patent fees on behalf of Redmond. However, because those patents weren't registered in South Korea, Samsung remained consistent in its objection that domestic taxes shouldn't be applicable.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court sided with Samsung, leading to the news that the Galaxy maker is getting a long-overdue refund (via The Korea Times).
If you feel that $9.3 million is not enough and you'd like to see the company accrue even more spare change, you can always put down money on a Galaxy Book2 preorder. In fact, if you preorder before the items go up for sale, you'll get a free gaming monitor thrown into the mix to sweeten the pot. And not a bad one, either — depending on which Galaxy Book2 laptop you preorder, you could get a display with the specs to rival the lower end of the best gaming monitors.
