Jung Yu-ra Wins Gift Tax Cancellation Lawsuit... Tax Amount Reduced from 490 Million to 60 Million Won

Jeyura Jeong

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Jung Yura, the daughter of Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil), the 'shadow power' of the Park Geun-hye administration, partially won an appeal in a lawsuit challenging the gift tax of approximately 490 million KRW imposed by the tax authorities.

The Seoul High Court Administrative Division 9 (Presiding Judge Kim Si-cheol) on the afternoon of the 4th overturned the original ruling in Jung's lawsuit against the Gangnam Tax Office to cancel the gift tax imposition and ruled in favor of the plaintiff partially, ordering the cancellation of the gift tax imposition of approximately 429.9 million KRW. Previously, the first trial only canceled the imposition of 175.38 million KRW out of the total amount of 490.28 million KRW, but the appellate court ordered an additional cancellation of approximately 254.5 million KRW. If this ruling is finalized, the gift tax Jung must pay will be 60.38 million KRW.

Earlier, the Gangnam Tax Office had imposed a gift tax of approximately 490 million KRW, considering that Jung inherited assets worth over 1.1 billion KRW, including four horses worth 400 million KRW and a countryside house in Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province, worth 700 million KRW, from Choi. The lawsuit was filed by Jung in objection to this imposition. The first trial canceled only the gift tax of about 170 million KRW related to the countryside house land in Hanam City among the tax authorities' impositions.

However, the appellate court ruled to cancel the gift tax of 183 million KRW related to the horse purchase payments. The court stated, "Choi bore the purchase costs of the horses, and it is difficult to consider that Jung, who was a minor at the age of 15 at the time, directly acquired ownership in the usual case," adding, "It is fully conceivable that the parents themselves acquired ownership but allowed the child to use them free of charge, so ownership of the horses cannot be considered to have belonged to Jung."

The court also ordered the cancellation of tax impositions on part of the insurance maturity refund and the deposit of the Gangnam apartment. Regarding the taxation of the insurance maturity refund, the court explained, "Since the taxation on the horse purchase payment was canceled, changes occurred in the additional gift tax amount, so part of it is canceled." Regarding the taxation on the Gangnam apartment deposit, the court ruled, "It is difficult to conclude that Choi gifted the deposit to Jung, and there is no other evidence to prove it."