By Kim Jae-won
Money or assets inherited by the richest 1.5 percent accounted for more than half of the country’s total inheritance, providing a fresh indicator of the widening income gap here, according to figures from the National Tax Service.
Of 288,503 people who inherited assets from their parents or spouses in 2009, inheritance tax was imposed on 4,340 or 1.5 percent of them. Assets inherited by these 4,340 amounted to 10.1 trillion won (about $9.4 billion), or 51 percent of the overall amount.
Of this super-rich group, 105 people inherited more than 10 billion won each that year and paid an aggregated 1.5 trillion won in inheritance tax, accounting for more than half of the total.
The country’s tax laws state that those inheriting assets worth more than 3 billion won should pay half of their value in inheritance tax.
Inheritance tax is a form of death duty on assets worth more than 500 million won (about $463,000). But considering the various deductions available, the taxes are paid mostly by those who inherit assets in the billions of won.
Land accounted for around 41 percent of the inherited assets in 2009, followed by buildings (27 percent), financial assets such as bank deposits and insurance holdings (16 percent) and securities and bonds (11 percent).
Particularly notable was the rising value of buildings, which accounted for just 14 percent of inherited assets in 2005.
Korean conglomerates have been criticized for conducting illegal inheritance schemes such as ordering parts exclusively from an unlisted subsidiary, which an heir or an heiress of the group owns.
The government said that it is considering imposing taxes on profits, which the latter earn from this practice.