National Tax Service, 13.9 Trillion Won Valuation of Stock Collateral for Chairman Lee Geon-hee's Inheritance Tax Payment

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[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The evaluation amount of Samsung Electronics and other stocks provided as tax payment guarantees by the four heirs of the late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee to the National Tax Service has been revealed to be approximately 13.9 trillion KRW.

On the 3rd, Samsung Electronics announced that former Leeum Museum Director Hong Ra-hee and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong deposited 66,143,273 shares of Samsung Electronics stock as a tax payment guarantee with the Seoul Western District Court. The Samsung C&T and Samsung SDS stocks deposited by Vice Chairman Lee, Hotel Shilla President Lee Boo-jin, and Samsung Welfare Foundation Director Lee Seo-hyun were counted as 43,048,602 shares and 12,550,273 shares, respectively.

According to the National Tax Service on the 4th, the evaluation price per share of securities provided as tax payment guarantees is determined by selecting the higher value between the "average closing price over the two months prior to the tax payment guarantee evaluation date" and the closing price on the most recent day before the evaluation date. The evaluation date for the "Lee Kun-hee inheritance tax" tax payment guarantee is the day before the tax payment guarantee was provided, which is the 29th of last month. Accordingly, the evaluation amounts of the stocks provided as tax payment guarantees are ▲ Samsung C&T 6 trillion KRW ▲ Samsung Electronics 5.5 trillion KRW ▲ Samsung SDS 2.4 trillion KRW.

Vice Chairman Lee and other heirs reported an inheritance tax of about 12.5 trillion KRW, of which one-sixth has already been paid. They provided stocks worth 13.9 trillion KRW as tax payment guarantees for the remaining installment tax amount of 10.4 trillion KRW. This is because when stocks are provided as tax payment guarantees, the amount of stocks provided must be 120% of the sum of the remaining tax amount and the additional interest rate (1.2% this year).

Vice Chairman Lee provided 96% of Samsung C&T shares and 43% of Samsung Electronics shares as tax payment guarantees. Although the evaluation amount of Vice Chairman Lee’s shares among the stocks provided as tax payment guarantees by the heirs amounts to 9.4 trillion KRW (67%), the actual inheritance tax corresponding to his inheritance share is about 2.9 trillion KRW. Since inheritance tax requires joint payment obligations among heirs, the name on the tax payment guarantee can be any of the heirs.