"Born a Building Owner"... 0-Year-Old Inherits 70 Billion Won Real Estate from Grandparents

Over 10,000 Cases of Minor Generation-Skipping Gifts in 5 Years Increased

The number of 'generation-skipping gifts,' where grandparents transfer real estate to their grandchildren, has exceeded 10,000 cases in the past five years.

According to data submitted by the National Tax Service to Min Hong-cheol, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (Gyeongnam Gimhae-gap), from 2018 to 2022, the total number of generation-skipping gifts of buildings and land to minors was 10,451 cases (5,058 buildings, 5,393 land). The combined amount reached 1.7408 trillion KRW (896.6 billion KRW for buildings, 884.2 billion KRW for land).

Jamsil Jugong Apartment Complex 5th District. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

By year, the figures were ▲2018: 1,863 cases (330 billion KRW) ▲2019: 2,099 cases (349 billion KRW) ▲2020: 1,849 cases (259 billion KRW) ▲2021: 2,648 cases (444.7 billion KRW) ▲2022: 1,992 cases (358 billion KRW).

Among these, buildings and land gifted by grandparents to children aged 0 to 9 totaled 4,652 cases, amounting to 787.5 billion KRW. Notably, for infants under 1 year old, 231 cases of buildings and land were gifted by grandparents, worth 70.5 billion KRW. For those aged 10 to 18, 5,799 cases of buildings and land were gifted by grandparents, with a total value of 953.3 billion KRW.

Gift tax is paid by the recipient, so dividing the gift among multiple people can reduce taxes. Additionally, generation-skipping gifts avoid the gift tax that would be imposed when transferring to the child’s generation, so an additional surtax of 30% (40% for gifts exceeding 2 billion KRW in property value to minors) is levied.

Representative Min said, "Although there is a taxation system for generation-skipping gifts to minors under current law, it is being used as a tax-saving loophole by the wealthy, contrary to its intended purpose, and is not functioning properly. It is necessary to accurately investigate how minors, who have difficulty engaging in economic activities, paid gift taxes on high-value assets such as real estate, the sources of funds, and whether there were any illegal acts during the gifting process."