First bilateral meeting between tax chiefs of South Korea and Mexico

National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Gwang-hyeon (left) poses for a photo with his Mexican counterpart Antonio Martinez Dagnino after their first bilateral meeting in Mexico City on Tuesday (local time). [National Tax Service]
National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Gwang-hyeon (left) poses for a photo with his Mexican counterpart Antonio Martinez Dagnino after their first bilateral meeting in Mexico City on Tuesday (local time). [National Tax Service]

National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Gwang-hyeon has asked Mexico's tax authority to extend support to South Korean companies and overseas Koreans as bilateral trade between the two countries continues to grow.

The National Tax Service said Wednesday that Lim met with Mexican tax chief Antonio Martinez Dagnino in Mexico City on Tuesday for the first bilateral meeting between the two countries' tax commissioners, during which he requested special attention and active tax support for Korean businesses and overseas Koreans based in Mexico.

Mexico serves as a key production and export hub for South Korean companies seeking access to the North American market, with bilateral trade expanding steadily. Trade between the two countries rose from $19.1 billion in 2023 to $19.9 billion in 2024 and $20.5 billion in 2025.

South Korea's top trading partner in Latin America, Mexico is home to 562 Korean companies — concentrated in manufacturing sectors such as automobiles, electronics and steel — and roughly 14,000 Korean residents, as of last year.

At the inaugural meeting, Lim raised specific tax difficulties facing Korean businesses, including delays in value-added tax refunds and double taxation issues between the two countries, the NTS said.

In response, Dagnino said his agency would "actively communicate with companies to resolve any tax difficulties that Korean businesses encounter" and pledged to "provide corporate tax filing guidance materials and spare no effort in offering tax support to help Korean companies file accurately."

Before the bilateral meeting, Lim held a roundtable with Korean companies operating in Mexico and a tax briefing for overseas Koreans on Monday, gathering their concerns firsthand before conveying them to the Mexican tax authority. The roundtable was the first to include a senior official from the host country's tax agency — Carlos Camero, Mexico's NTS head of transfer pricing.

The two tax authorities also agreed to strengthen cooperation on sharing experience and policy in digital tax administration and expanding practical exchanges.

Lim shared South Korea's experience with electronic tax invoices and the Hometax online filing system, as well as plans for the digital transformation of tax administration using AI and big data. The Mexican NTS expressed strong interest in South Korea's AI utilization plans, the NTS said.

The K-Tax Angel team, which accompanied Lim on the trip, also held a tax briefing for Korean companies and overseas Koreans in Mexico on Monday. Launched in January, the K-Tax Angel team is a group of NTS staff with extensive expertise in property taxation and international tax who serve as instructors for such briefings.

Both sides agreed that holding the first-ever tax commissioner meeting ahead of a South Korea-Mexico summit made the occasion particularly meaningful, the NTS said.

"Going forward, the NTS will continue to provide field-centered tax support while expanding its cooperation network with major tax authorities, so that Korean companies and overseas Koreans can carry out their economic activities abroad with stability," the agency said.


oskymoon@heraldcorp.com