"Multi-homeowners and corporations pay 93-99% of comprehensive real estate tax nationwide except Seoul... Seoul accounts for 81%"

Ministry of Economy and Finance Releases Data on Multi-Homeowners and Corporations' Share of Comprehensive Real Estate Tax on Housing

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] On the 28th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced, "The 2021 comprehensive real estate tax (종합부동산세) notice amount for housing paid by multi-homeowners and corporations nationwide is 88.9%," adding, "This is the expected policy effect of strengthening the comprehensive real estate tax on multi-homeowners and corporations to stabilize the housing market." This explanation was released in response to criticisms that the tax burden is spreading nationwide, clarifying that most of the comprehensive real estate tax is paid by multi-homeowners and corporations.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance disclosed the '2021 Non-Capital Region Housing Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Multi-Homeowners and Corporations Proportion Statistics' on the same day. A multi-homeowner refers to an individual who owns two or more houses. According to the ministry, 93-99% of the comprehensive real estate tax amount is borne by multi-homeowners owning two or more houses per person and corporations. The tax amount for multi-homeowners and corporations is 5.0463 trillion KRW, which is 88.9% of the total tax amount (5.6789 trillion KRW). The number of taxpayers is 547,000, accounting for 57.8% of the total 947,000 taxpayers.

The proportion of tax notices for multi-homeowners and corporations relative to the total tax amount was highest in Gyeongnam (99.5%), Gwangju Metropolitan City (98.6%), Jeju (98.2%), and Ulsan (98.0%), while Seoul was at 81.4%. Other regions such as Gangwon (92.8%), Gyeonggi (93.9%), Sejong (95%), Daegu (95.9%), and Incheon (96.6%) followed in descending order.

The ministry also reported that among houses subject to comprehensive real estate tax with a publicly announced price exceeding 1.1 billion KRW, the share of non-capital regions was negligible at 0.1% or less, except for Busan (0.51%) and Daegu (0.40%). Seoul accounted for 10.29%, and the national average was 1.89%. The ministry explained, "This means that most comprehensive real estate tax subjects residing in non-capital regions are either multi-homeowners, corporations, or owners of houses in Seoul and other capital region areas." Here, 1.1 billion KRW refers to the tax threshold for a single homeowner with one house under a single name.

According to the 'Proportion of Houses with Publicly Announced Prices Exceeding 1.1 Billion KRW by City/Province' data released by the ministry, there are 346,455 houses nationwide with publicly announced prices exceeding 1.1 billion KRW, accounting for 1.89% of the total 18,344,692 houses nationwide. Seoul had the highest proportion at 10.29%, followed by Gyeonggi (0.78%), Busan (0.51%), and Daegu (0.40%). Incheon (0.04%), Gwangju Metropolitan City (0.02%), Ulsan Metropolitan City (0.02%), Gangwon (0.01%), and Jeonnam (0.01%) had low proportions of houses exceeding the 1.1 billion KRW publicly announced price threshold.