Onuri ENM resolves 70% of its 110.4 billion won tax burden, restarting global telecom business

[Financial News]  The tax risk surrounding KOSDAQ-listed Onuri ENM, which amounted to more than 110 billion won, is moving toward resolution. Tax assessments totaling 80.3 billion won, or more than 70% of the overall dispute, have been canceled. As the burden of large contingent liabilities eases, market attention is expected to shift from the tax dispute to a recovery in the company’s core telecom business.
According to Onuri ENM on the 1st, the company received notice that the original assessment of about 29.6 billion won in the first case, imposed by the Seoul Regional Tax Office, and the third assessment of about 50.7 billion won, imposed by the Yeongdeungpo Tax Office, were both fully canceled.
Tax authorities had previously imposed a total of 110.4 billion won in three rounds, saying that revenue and purchases related to the company’s travel business from 2018 to 2023 were fictitious transactions. The company challenged the assessments, and after the Tax Tribunal ordered a reinvestigation in June, the first and third assessments were canceled one after another. With 72.7% of the total dispute now resolved, uncertainty over contingent liabilities, which had long weighed on the company’s valuation, has also been significantly reduced.
The remaining issue is the second assessment, worth about 30.1 billion won, imposed by the Namdaemun Tax Office. A lawsuit seeking to invalidate it is currently under way. The company said the canceled first and third assessments are linked to the same tax period and transaction structure, so it expects the latest decision to have a positive effect on the ongoing case.
The key question now is whether the reduced tax risk will lead to an actual recovery in the company’s core business. Onuri ENM plans to expand new orders in the global telecom network market by leveraging its business base in the U.S. antenna market.
An industry source said, "A large tax dispute can weigh on a company’s valuation by affecting financing and transactions," adding, "Now that much of the uncertainty has been removed, the key to a revaluation will be how many actual orders and how much performance the telecom business can generate going forward."
A company official at Onuri ENM said, "With the early resolution of the tax issue, much of the external uncertainty has been removed," and added, "We will focus on expanding into the global telecom network market and enhancing corporate value based on our foothold in the U.S. market."


[email protected] Kim Kyung-a Reporter