Kookmin to Book $482 Million in Back Taxes in Second Quarter

Kookmin Bank, South Korea's top lender, said on Monday it will reflect all of the 442 billion won (US$482.1 million) it was ordered to pay in back taxes in second-quarter earnings.

"Before we submit half-year results to regulators by Aug. 15, we will book all of the taxes in the second-quarter earnings in a lump sum," Kookmin spokesman Choi In-seok told Reuters.

On Friday, a Kookmin spokesman had said the bank would book about 40% of the taxes, or 173.2 billion won, in the April-June results after it paid the first tranche of taxes on June 15.

Kookmin shares fell on the news.

The taxes were related to the bank's accounting method for setting aside loan-loss provisions when it absorbed its credit card unit in 2003.

Regulators said the accounting method had improperly lowered Kookmin's taxable income, leading them to hand out their toughest warning to then-CEO Kim Jung-tae. He was forced to step down two months before his term ended in 2004.