Tax chief: "Did 2,400 wealthy Koreans leave last year? ... The real number is just 139"

Lim Gwang-hyun, Commissioner of the National Tax Service, said on the 8th, "The report cited by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) claimed that the net outflow of Korean millionaires doubled over the past year to 2,400 in 2024. However, both the number and the growth rate of emigrants with assets of 1 billion won or more are very different from the facts."
Posting on a social networking service (SNS) the same day, Lim Gwang-hyun explained, "Over the past three years, an average of 2,904 Koreans per year filed emigration notifications, and among them, only an annual average of 139 people had assets of at least 1 billion won."
Lim Gwang-hyun went on, "In its report titled 'Analysis of Inheritance Tax Revenue Outlook and Diversification of Payment Methods,' the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) asserted that in Korea, 1,200 high-net-worth individuals with more than 1 million dollars (about 1.4 billion won) in non-real-estate assets left the country in 2024, and that this number would surge to 2,400 in 2025." He added, "In particular, it linked this so-called exodus of millionaires from Korea to the inheritance tax system, thereby providing the public with distorted information."
He also noted, "Among emigrants, those with assets of 1 billion won or more average only 139 people per year, and their per-capita assets have been declining, from 9.7 billion won in 2022 to 5.46 billion won in 2023 and 4.65 billion won in 2024." He stressed, "Looking at the past three-year average, 39% of all emigrants moved to countries without inheritance tax, but among those with assets of 1 billion won or more, the share is just 25%, which is actually lower than the overall ratio. In other words, we do not see a tendency for people with more wealth to move specifically to countries without inheritance tax."
Lim Gwang-hyun added, "Korea has a business succession tax deduction system, under which people who run small and mid-sized companies with annual sales of less than 500 billion won can receive up to 60 billion won in inheritance tax relief." He continued, "Going forward, the National Tax Service will keep analyzing a wide range of data to provide the public with timely and accurate information, while strictly scrutinizing any attempts to move domestic assets overseas through illicit or abusive schemes."
syj@fnnews.com Seo Young-jun Reporter