National Tax Service to Probe Inheritances of Minors

The National Tax Service on Wednesday vowed to investigate vast gifts of money, real estate and corporate stakes made to 225 minors by wealthy parents and other relatives in a bid to dodge inheritance and other taxes.

Nineteen of the minors were targeted for investigation because their living inheritances were not reported to tax authorities. They include a four-year-old child who owns two apartments worth W400 million each and a high school student who nominally bought an apartment valued at W900 million (US$1=W1,129).

The NTS will also probe 22 individuals who made a lot of money renting out property but could not explain how they were able to buy it. Ninety minors with bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of won who have not yet reported the gifts will also be investigated.

The NTS has already probed the financial records of 297 minors this year and slapped them with W8.6 billion in taxes.

It has also launched probes of 73 stakeholders in 16 companies where minors are suspected of inheriting management control by dubious means and 199 people who are suspected of under-reporting the value of real estate gifts.