Less than half of the foreign-owned firms operating in Korea but based overseas paid corporate taxes in Korea last year, mostly on account of lackluster business performances, data showed Sunday.

The National Tax Service said that as of the end of 2012, there were 1,646 foreign companies operating in Korea, among which 1,513 registered to pay corporate taxes. Out of this number, 734 ― or 44.6 percent ― were actually subject to taxes totaling 769.4 billion won ($707.3 million).

This is because out of the 1,513, almost half had posted operating deficits, while others were exempted due to tax incentives and other administrative adjustments.

Most of these foreign companies were based in Seoul, followed by Gyeonggi Province and Busan, the figures showed.

The corporate taxes that foreign firms paid here had reached 471.6 billion won in 2007, falling to 430.7 billion won in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

In 2009, the figure soared to 794.5 billion won.

In terms of countries of origin, Japan was at the top of the list by accounting for 24.5 percent of the total number of overseas based companies here. It was followed by the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

(tellme@heraldcorp.com)