Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon says South Korea is preparing to levy corporate taxes on global information and technology(IT) firms. 

Kim made the remark on Friday during a parliamentary audit when asked by Representative Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party whether global IT firms operating in the country, such as Google Korea, are paying taxes faithfully. 

The minister explained that under current law it is difficult to impose corporate tax on IT firms based overseas, although they are required to pay value-added tax. 

He noted that proposals are being made at the European Union(EU) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) to impose corporate tax on such companies, and said the government is also actively preparing for such efforts. 

Kim said they are also working on imposing taxes on proceeds from virtual currency investments.