This undated photo, provided by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, shows the exterior of the ministry building in the administrative city of Sejong.
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The government has launched a drive to introduce an inheritance acquisition tax, which levies a tax equivalent to the amount of property inherited by heirs.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance recently placed an order for a related research service concerning the legislation of a new taxation system on the acquisition of inheritance, government sources said Thursday.
The inheritance acquisition tax refers to a policy in which the amount of tax heirs pay is determined by the amount of property they inherit.
Previously, when the government announced a tax revision plan, it disclosed its intention to reform the current inheritance tax imposition system into an inheritance acquisition tax system.
Through this research service, the ministry plans to study the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member nations’ inheritance acquisition tax imposition systems as well as to analyze the tax revenue effect arising from the shift towards inheritance acquisition tax, aimed at revising the current inheritance and gift tax law.
At present, the country takes the ‘inheritance tax’ method in which the tax is levied based on the total value of the inheritance of the decedent.
Since 10 to 50 percent progressive tax rates are applied, some heirs have a higher tax burden than the actual amount of inheritance they receive.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
