LG chairman loses suit filed to recoup part of massive inheritance taxes

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo on Thursday lost a lawsuit he filed together with his family members to recoup part of the near 1 trillion won (US$735.7 billion) 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 that included a 11.28 percent share in LG Corp., the holding company of LG Group, one of South Korea's biggest family-controlled conglomerates. Koo, along with his mother and two sisters, has since filed a lawsuit against the chief of the National Tax Service's Yongsan district office, contesting what they claim to be an excessive tax imposition and demanding the cancellation of part of it. The Seoul Administrative Court on Thursday ruled against the family. The Koo family demanded recalculation of the value of the inherited 1.12 percent share in LG CNS, an IT service management firm, in the suit. If t he court had ruled in favor of the family, they would have recouped 1 billion won out of the taxes paid. Source: Yonhap News Agency