By Yoon Ja-young
Christopher Kim, who runs a jewelry shop in downtown Seoul, recently had a request from an older customer for 1,000 don of gold. A don is a traditional Korean weight unit equal to 3.75 grams.
"The super rich are buying gold as a method of avoiding taxes," he said.
According to the Korea Gold Exchange, the weight of gold bars sold last month reached 132 kilograms, up from 59 kilograms in April.
The weight of silver bars sold has also increased to 980 kilograms from 470 kilograms in the same period.
Analysts also estimate that the shortage of 50,000 won bills in the market may be linked to the super rich wanting to keep cash in a safe, thus avoiding being tracked by the tax agency.
As the government is scheduled to toughen penalties on people who hold bank accounts under borrowed names, the wealthiest people in society are rushing to withdraw money from their accounts.
Those who have an investment or dividend income surpassing 20 million won per year are subject to comprehensive financial income taxes.
This means that those liable often split their money and deposit the funds in a number of different accounts, such as those of family members, taking them below the 20 million won threshold. These are borrowed accounts, and the practice is illegal; using such accounts can bring up to five years in prison.
Recently, many banks have noticed a marked reduction in the savings of the super rich.
At Hana Bank, the total savings of super-rich customers that have deposits of over 1 billion won decreased to 7 trillion won as of October; this is down from 7.6 trillion won from six months ago.
Woori Bank also revealed that such savings decreased to 4.2 trillion won in October from 4.7 trillion won in April.
Ordinary customers meanwhile are now turning to bank savings due to the sluggish stock and real estate markets. The total savings at banks grew by 6.8 trillion won to 562 trillion won during the same period.
Billionaires are concerned they will face huge tax bills if they declare all their money.
Christopher Kim, who runs a jewelry shop in downtown Seoul, recently had a request from an older customer for 1,000 don of gold. A don is a traditional Korean weight unit equal to 3.75 grams.
"The super rich are buying gold as a method of avoiding taxes," he said.
According to the Korea Gold Exchange, the weight of gold bars sold last month reached 132 kilograms, up from 59 kilograms in April.
The weight of silver bars sold has also increased to 980 kilograms from 470 kilograms in the same period.
Analysts also estimate that the shortage of 50,000 won bills in the market may be linked to the super rich wanting to keep cash in a safe, thus avoiding being tracked by the tax agency.
As the government is scheduled to toughen penalties on people who hold bank accounts under borrowed names, the wealthiest people in society are rushing to withdraw money from their accounts.
Those who have an investment or dividend income surpassing 20 million won per year are subject to comprehensive financial income taxes.
This means that those liable often split their money and deposit the funds in a number of different accounts, such as those of family members, taking them below the 20 million won threshold. These are borrowed accounts, and the practice is illegal; using such accounts can bring up to five years in prison.
Recently, many banks have noticed a marked reduction in the savings of the super rich.
At Hana Bank, the total savings of super-rich customers that have deposits of over 1 billion won decreased to 7 trillion won as of October; this is down from 7.6 trillion won from six months ago.
Woori Bank also revealed that such savings decreased to 4.2 trillion won in October from 4.7 trillion won in April.
Ordinary customers meanwhile are now turning to bank savings due to the sluggish stock and real estate markets. The total savings at banks grew by 6.8 trillion won to 562 trillion won during the same period.
Billionaires are concerned they will face huge tax bills if they declare all their money.
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