LG Chairman loses case filed to recover share of massive inheritance taxes

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo on Thursday lost a lawsuit he filed together with his family members to recover part of the nearly $735.7 billion (1 trillion won) in inheritance taxes imposed following the death of former Chairman Koo Bon-moo.

After the former chairman’s death in 2018, a combined 990 billion won in taxes were imposed on Koo Kwang-mo and other members of the owning family for their inheritance worth about two trillion won that included an 11.28 per cent share in LG Corp, the holding company of LG Group, one of South Korea’s biggest family-controlled conglomerates, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Koo, with his mother and two sisters, has since filed a lawsuit against the chief of the National Tax Service’s Yongsan district office, challenging what they claim to be an excessive tax imposition and demanding the cancellation of part of it.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled against the family without elaborating on the reasoning behind the decision.

The Koo family demanded a recalculation of the value of the inherited 1.12 per cent unlisted share in LG CNS, an IT service management firm, in the suit. If the court had ruled in favour of the family, they would have recouped 1 billion won out of the taxes paid.

Koo’s side had argued that the value of the unlisted CNS share was calculated based on trades between small shareholders and the calculated figure can vary from the actual market prices.

Presently, Koo is facing a separate lawsuit from his mother and sisters, who are demanding a redivision of the inheritance.

Koo inherited an 8.76 per cent share in LG Corp, becoming the biggest shareholder, while his two sisters were given shares of 2.01 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively, along with the late chairman’s personal assets.

Koo is the nephew of the late chairman, who adopted him in 2004 after his only son died in a car accident, and became LG chairman in June 2018.