Tesla Korea, the South Korean unit of U.S. electric carmaker Tesla, has failed to properly reflect fines in its financial statements and was issued a “qualified opinion” from an accounting firm on April 10. Tesla Korea was subjected to 25.1 billion won in corporate taxes, but its management team recorded the amount as a receivable in its financial statements.
Tesla Korea disclosed on the same day that it had received a “qualified opinion” on the previous year’s financial statements from Taesung Accounting Corp., the auditor of Tesla Korea, about the company’s financial statements for last year.
Taesung cited the insufficient evidence regarding the recoverability of the corporate tax amount accounted for by Tesla Korea as accounts receivable and explained, “While Tesla Korea paid the corporate tax, the firm had counted them as accounts receivable on the current and prior financial statements.”
Tesla Korea recorded 320.9 billion won as accounts receivable for the previous year but included a corporate tax of 25.1 billion.
From 2017 to 2020, the automaker firm paid 25.1 billion won in corporate taxes for a tax audit conducted by National Tax Service but accounted for the amount as a receivable in its financial statements.
The accounting firm issued a qualified opinion as it is unusual for companies to record corporate tax as a receivable unless it is a finalized refund. A company receives a “qualified opinion” when it makes a slight violation in its financial paper.
