LG Family Begins 'Inheritance Tax Cancellation Lawsuit'... "LG CNS Stock Price Is the Issue"

A lawsuit filed by LG family members, including Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG Group, claiming that the inheritance tax is excessive has begun.

Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The Administrative Division 5 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Kim Soon-yeol) held the first hearing on the 13th for the lawsuit filed by Chairman Koo, his mother Kim Young-sik, his younger sister Koo Yeon-kyung, CEO of LG Welfare Foundation, and Koo Yeon-su against the Yongsan Tax Office chief, seeking cancellation of the inheritance tax imposition.

The court focused on the issue of the "stock price of LG CNS." "Ultimately, the key issue seems to be whether there is a legitimate reason for the valuation of LG CNS, an unlisted stock," and requested the Yongsan Tax Office to submit other cases of unlisted stock evaluations used to calculate inheritance tax.

Chairman Koo's attorney argued, "The tax authorities calculated the price of LG CNS based on transactions among small shareholders, which cannot be compared to the actual market price."

In response, the Yongsan Tax Office stated, "The LG CNS stock price was reported daily in newspapers and it is unlikely that anyone distorted the price," and rebutted that they calculated the accurate market price based on this.

The court decided to hear additional opinions from both sides and hold another hearing on September 21.

The Koo family is known to have filed the lawsuit to seek the court's judgment on the value of the 1.12% stake in LG CNS inherited from the late former chairman Koo Bon-moo, who passed away in 2018. The late chairman Koo's estate is worth about 2 trillion won, including 11.28% of LG shares. The inheritance tax imposed on the LG family amounts to 990 billion won.

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