Former Kolon Chairman Lee Woong-yeol Wins Second Trial in 16.5 Billion Won Inheritance Tax Lawsuit

Former Kolon Group Chairman Lee Woong-yeol / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Former Kolon Group Chairman Lee Woong-yeol (67) filed an administrative lawsuit challenging the imposition of inheritance tax and won again in the second trial.

According to the court on the 13th, the Seoul High Court Administrative Division 9-1 (Presiding Judges Kang Moon-kyung, Kim Seung-joo, Jo Chan-young) ruled partially in favor of the plaintiff, as in the first trial, in the appeal case filed by former Chairman Lee against the Seongbuk Tax Office chief to cancel the inheritance tax imposition.

Of the total imposed inheritance tax and additional tax amounting to approximately 54.39 billion KRW, about 16.58 billion KRW was canceled, meaning most of the 19.38 billion KRW that former Chairman Lee requested to be canceled was accepted.

Previously, the tax authorities conducted a tax investigation on Kolon Group in 2016 and imposed inheritance tax. They also reported former Chairman Lee for violating the Tax Offense Punishment Act, alleging that he failed to report inheritance of nominee stocks from the previous chairman, omitting inheritance facts worth around 90 billion KRW.

After former Chairman Lee’s objection and a re-investigation, the finalized inheritance tax in 2018 was approximately 43.76 billion KRW, and the additional tax for underreporting and poor payment was about 10.63 billion KRW. This amount included the approximately 23.66 billion KRW that former Chairman Lee had already paid in 2015, so the additionally imposed tax was about 30.73 billion KRW.

Former Chairman Lee filed an administrative lawsuit against this tax imposition, and both the first and second trials ruled in his favor. Since the burden of proof for taxation conditions legally lies with the tax authorities, the court judged that the evidence submitted by the tax authorities alone was insufficient to recognize the previous chairman as the actual owner of the nominee stocks.

However, the court acknowledged that former Chairman Lee did inherit funds for acquiring artworks from the previous chairman and failed to report them, so the related taxation was upheld.

Former Chairman Lee was also investigated by prosecutors in this case, but in February 2019, he was cleared of charges of inheritance tax evasion (violation of the Tax Offense Punishment Act). However, he was found guilty of nominee stock holding (violation of the Capital Markets Act, etc.) and was fined 300 million KRW in a criminal trial.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.