Tag: taxes

Could you imagine having to pay this much in taxes:

The scions of Samsung Group, South Korea’s top conglomerate, are likely to unveil a plan this week on how to finance their massive inheritance tax, which includes the donation of late group chief Lee Kun-hee’s art collections.

The senior Lee, who was South Korea’s richest man, left more than 22 trillion won ($19.6 billion) worth of assets, including stocks valued around 19 trillion won.

Lee, who died in October last year at age 78, was survived by his wife, Hong Ra-hee, only son, Jae-yong, and two daughters — Boo-jin and Seo-hyun.

Lee’s family members are expected to pay around 12 trillion won in inheritance taxes for the late chief’s assets. 

They have to report and pay inheritance taxes to local authorities by the end of this month.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but you know a tax bill is high when Samsung heirs are even having trouble trying to pay it.

This is going to be quite the tax bill for whoever takes over Samsung after the death of Lee Kun-hee:

As Samsung chief Lee Kun-hee passed away, his heirs, including his only son, Jae-yong, and his sisters will shoulder a record high amount of inheritance tax, industry sources said Sunday.

Lee Kun-hee, who led South Korea’s top family-controlled conglomerate Samsung Group, died at a hospital in Seoul on Sunday at age 78, leaving behind stock assets of some 18 trillion won (US$15.9 billion).

The senior Lee is survived by his wife, Hong Ra-hee, and only son, Jae-yong, and two daughters — Boo-jin and Seo-hyun.

Korea Biz Wire

You can read more at the link, but the article says the tax bill will be about 10 trillion won which is about $9 billion dollars.

Here is the latest Moon administration attack on the human rights group that send leaflets into North Korea:

The government is seeking stronger measures against activist and North Korean defectors groups that have been sending anti-North Korea leaflets across the inter-Korean border, stating that their campaigns are not helping to create peace on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea watchers say that the government’s tough stance could lead to the campaigns losing ground here. 

On Monday, the Ministry of Unification held a hearing to give two North Korean defectors’ groups a final opportunity to justify their actions before it makes a decision on whether to revoke their civic group licenses, following their sending of propaganda leaflets, rice and other items across the border. 

“We held a hearing today for Fighters for a Free North Korea and Kuensaem,” the ministry said in a press statement. “After checking whether there are any additional documents they need to submit, we will proceed with the license revocation and other related procedures.”

If their licenses are annulled, they will not be able to hold official fundraisers. Currently, donors for activist groups are eligible for various tax benefits.

“Individuals can donate, but their contribution could be seen as a donation of their property, which means they may have to pay gift taxes,” ministry spokesman Yoh Sang-key said. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this is the state of affairs in Korea right now. Leaders running human rights groups trying to make change in North Korea will have to pay taxes for donations while leaders of comfort women groups get to embezzle the money and then get appointed to the National Assembly to avoid prosecution.

For people who live in Korea and are making money from Youtube channel monetization, then yes they should be paying their taxes.  Anyone want to make a bet that every conservative with a Youtube channel will be audited to make sure they are paying taxes?:

Korean tax authorities are vowing to crack down on high-earning YouTubers to ensure that they are paying their taxes in full.

Last month, National Tax Service (NTS) Commissioner Han Sung-hee promised to take measures to “prevent tax evasion” by well-paid YouTubers during the National Assembly’s annual questioning session.

Han said that while the NTS had only advised 513 YouTubers to pay income taxes in the past, it was open to launching investigations into those who have not voluntarily declared taxes.

Starting in October, the tax authorities have been looking into YouTubers’ tax returns and verifying their authenticity. The NTS plans to finish verifications by the end of the year and launch investigations into suspicious individuals from next year.

“We are now collecting information on YouTubers who are suspected of not paying taxes,” said one tax official who requested anonymity. “We receive records on individuals who earn over $10,000 in foreign currency per year from the Bank of Korea.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Actress Kim Hye-soo poses with an award she received for being a model taxpayer at a ceremony in Seoul on March 5, 2018. (Yonhap)

Is this something the United States should consider doing considering how many of the mega-churches seem like multi-national corporations now with the amount of revenue they bring in:

The government will press ahead with the plan to impose taxes on clergy members beginning next year. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon told lawmakers that the government will implement a revision to tax code that will enable it to levy income taxes of between 6 percent and 38 percent on churches, temples and other religious organizations beginning next year.

Kim said he will meet with leaders of religious groups to minimize confusion and ensure fair taxation.

“The government will take all preparatory steps before implementing taxation on religious groups,” Kim said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Sung Yu-ri, a singer-turned-actress, attends a ceremony in Seoul on March 3, 2017, for the Taxpayers’ Day. Sung was one of the celebrities awarded at the ceremony as a model taxpayer. (Yonhap)

This is something that I wish that we would do in the US because these megachurch leaders living opulent lifestyles should be taxed:

Picture of South Korean church steeple from Flickr user Knigel. 

In a sweeping revision of Korea’s tax system, the government plans to tax religious leaders for the first time and change regulations governing “corporate cars.”

The revisions were proposed at the taxation subcommittee of the Strategy and Finance Committee of the National Assembly on Monday.

In a move to be approved by the National Assembly on Wednesday, the government said it will begin collecting income tax from pastors, clergy and monks starting in 2018. The decision comes after long-standing discussions on the sensitive issue over the past 50 years.

“We decided to take the next two years as a time to prepare for the new rule, since it is the first time that Korea has implemented such a law,” Rep. Kang Seog-hoon of the ruling Saenuri Party said. “During the two years, we will keep communicating with religious groups so that the policy can settle down without turbulence.”

The revision categorizes income of religious leaders as “religious income,” instead of what is currently classified as an “honorarium,” and it will be collected under the same conditions as regular workers’ income.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

It looks like the South Korean government is looking to increase taxes even further on imported cars:

Taxes on luxury imported cars are likely to go up, with lawmakers and the government seeking a law revision to impose taxes based on prices instead of engine displacement.

Rep. Shim Jae-chul from the ruling Saenuri Party proposed a revision of the law earlier this week, saying the current system was unfair and did not reflect technology advances.

“The current volume-based tax system could be unfair,” he said. “With the development of technology, car owners with lower engine displacement, higher performance and higher price pay less tax than drivers with lower priced, low-performance cars.”

According to the current law, 80 won per cubic centimeter (cc) is imposed for cars with displacement less than 1,000 cc, 140 won for cars with displacement between 1,000 and 1,600 cc, and 200 won for cars with displacement over 1,600 cc.

For example, BMW 520d owners pay almost the same amount of vehicle taxes as those driving such local brands as Hyundai Motor’s Sonata midsize as they are in the same segment in terms of engine displacement. The price of the German vehicle is about three times higher than the Korean car.

Also, many lavish cars nowadays are designed with smaller displacements to burn less fuel or run a hybrid engine. Shim said a growing number of electronic cars are another factor to consider. [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

Just like in the US the Korean government has found that the demonization of smokers is an effective way to raise revenue.  Then again another way to look at it is that smokers put more demand on the health care system and thus should be expected to pay more:

When the administration calculated its 2016 budget, it predicted that total cigarette consumption (shipping) would be 3.46 billion packs, or 600 million (21%) more than this year. Cigarette consumption has fallen by 34% since taxes per pack were raised by 2,000 won (US$1.67) at the beginning of the year, but revenues were projected to increase by 2.854 trillion won (US$2.38 billion) over the year, including national and local taxes.Yet in the administration’s calculations, the projected 2016 shipments were down by just 21.2% from the annual average of 4.39 billion packs for the four years from 2010 to 2013. Critics are now charging that the goal of the cigarette tax hike was not to discourage smoking as claimed – but to raise more tax revenues.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.