Inter-family asset donation rises in 2019 to bypass inheritance tax: NTS

The amount of lineally donated assets marked over 30 trillion won ($25 billion), while the number of cases amounting to more than 100 million won also rose in 2019, the country’s tax agency said Friday.

The National Tax Service made an early publication on 95 selected articles of data on national taxes -- which includes value added taxes, corporate taxes, inheritance and gift taxes. The early publication is being released biannually and its statistical yearbook is slated to be released in December.

According to last year’s statistics, the number of reported donations came to 151,399, up 145,139 cases or 4.3 percent from a year ago. The total value of such assets also rose by 27.41 trillion won, or 3.1 percent, to some 28.25 trillion won.

Among the total number of cases, those marking 100 million or more accounted for 35,847. The number of asset donations to spouses came to 3,350, with the amount totaling at 2.9 trillion won.

Amid the sluggish economy, transferring assets has been active here, especially among high-income families that seek to avoid the rising amount of inheritance tax.

The amount and inheritance cases also rose from the previous year. Due to the increase, the number of reported cases of inheritance and gift taxes hit an all-time high last year.

The number of reported inheritance taxes came to 9,555 -- up 8,449 or 13.1 percent from a year earlier -- while the amount came in at nearly 21.54 trillion won, increasing by 965.4 billion won or 4.7 percent during the cited period.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)