Share of 13 to 18-Year-Olds Reaches 43.7%
Annual Average Exceeds 300 Billion Won
Infants Under One Receive 200 Million Won Per Case
"Need to Clearly Identify Irregularities"
Over the past five years, the total value of real estate directly inherited by minors from their grandparents has exceeded 1.5 trillion won. This indicates that generation-skipping gifts, which bypass the parents’ generation, are being used as a means of tax avoidance.
According to data submitted by Democratic Party lawmaker Min Hongcheol, a member of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, to the National Tax Service, minors acquired a total of 9,299 real estate properties through generation-skipping gifts between 2020 and 2024. The total value amounted to 1.5371 trillion won, averaging more than 300 billion won per year.
Generation-skipping gifts refer to the transfer of assets directly from grandparents to grandchildren, bypassing the parents. In principle, this allows for tax savings by omitting the gift tax that would otherwise be incurred at the parents’ level. However, if the transfer is not due to the death of the parents, an additional 30% tax is imposed on the calculated tax amount. If a minor grandchild receives assets exceeding 2 billion won, the additional tax rate increases to 40%.
The annual breakdown shows 259 billion won in 2020, 444.7 billion won in 2021, 358 billion won in 2022, 294.2 billion won in 2023, and 181.2 billion won in 2024. Although the figure peaked in 2021 and has since declined, more than 300 billion won worth of assets have still been transferred to minors on average each year.
Looking at the average gift amount by type of real estate, in 2018, land (190 million won) exceeded buildings (161 million won). However, in 2021, buildings (199 million won) surpassed land (132 million won). In 2024, the average amount per transaction for buildings was 214 million won, significantly higher than that for land (132 million won). This reflects the sharper increase in the value of residential and commercial buildings compared to land.
As of 2024, minors aged 13 to 18 accounted for the largest share by value at 43.7%. This was followed by those aged 7 to 12 at 33.5%, and those aged 0 to 6 at 22.8%. In terms of the number of cases, the 13 to 18 age group also accounted for nearly half at 44.0%. This suggests that the transfer of assets from parents to children typically begins in earnest during middle and high school years.
Gifts were even made to infants less than one year old. Over the past five years, there were 188 cases of gifts to zero-year-old minors, amounting to 37.1 billion won, with an average of about 200 million won per case. This indicates that it is not uncommon for newborns to inherit assets worth several billion won right after birth.
Lawmaker Min Hongcheol stated, “Although there is an additional tax system for generation-skipping gifts, in practice, many wealthy individuals use this as a loophole for tax avoidance. The government must thoroughly verify the source of funds for assets gifted to minors and clearly determine whether any irregularities are involved.”
Although the National Tax Service conducts annual investigations into the source of funds, it remains difficult to detect all irregular gifts in large-scale real estate transactions. Lawmaker Min emphasized, “Since the intergenerational transfer of wealth is one of the main factors exacerbating social inequality, the government must establish a more precise management and oversight system.”
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