3,272 Major Shareholders, Average Capital Gains per Person Reached 2.9 Billion KRW Last Year

Ahn Dogeol Discloses Capital Gains Tax on Listed Stocks
Only 0.02% Are Major Shareholders With Over 1 Billion KRW Per Stock
Average Capital Gains Tax Paid: 680 Million KRW

Ant Illustration

The top-tier super individual investors in South Korea were found to have earned an average capital gains profit of 2.9 billion KRW per person last year. These investors are major shareholders holding more than 1 billion KRW per stock, representing 0.02% of all individual stock investors (14.03 million as of 2023), making them high-net-worth individuals.

According to data on "Capital Gains Tax on Listed Stocks for 2019?2023" submitted by the National Tax Service to Ahn Do-geol, a member of the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party, the number of people who filed capital gains tax on listed stocks last year was 3,272, showing little change from the previous year (3,372). However, the tax amount paid on capital gains from stock sales reached a record high of 2.2266 trillion KRW. This indicates that the capital gains per person were substantial.

Last year, capital gains tax related to stocks amounted to 5.3266 trillion KRW, an increase of 6.2% (312.5 billion KRW) from the previous year (5.0141 trillion KRW). Among this, the capital gains tax imposed on major shareholders was 2.2266 trillion KRW, up 29% (500.5 billion KRW) from the previous year (1.7261 trillion KRW). This is analyzed to be due to the realization of large capital gains by selling stocks during the stock market rebound in 2023. In fact, the KOSPI fell 25% in 2022 but rose 18.7% in 2023.

Super individual investors (major shareholders) earned an average of 2.89357 billion KRW each and paid 68.05 million KRW in capital gains tax. The effective tax rate relative to the taxable base was 24%. Considering that a 25% tax rate is applied to capital gains exceeding 300 million KRW of the taxable base, it is interpreted that most exceeded this threshold.

Assemblyman Ahn Do-geol pointed out, "Major shareholders who pay capital gains tax on listed stocks account for only 0.02% of all stock investors, a very small minority," and criticized, "How can you tell salaried workers to properly pay income tax while exempting stock wealthy individuals who earn about 3 billion KRW annually?"

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