Seoul, April 4 (IANS) LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and his family members have lost a lawsuit to recover part of the nearly $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 family members for their inheritance worth about two trillion won that included an 11.28 per cent share in LG Corp, the holding company of LG Group.
Koo, along with his mother and two sisters, filed a lawsuit against the chief of the National Tax Service’s Yongsan district office, challenging what they claimed to be an excessive tax imposition and demanding the cancellation of part of it. The Seoul Administrative Court ruled against the family without providing detailed reasoning behind the decision.
The Koo family demanded a recalculation of the value of the inherited 1.12 per cent unlisted share in LG CNS, an IT service management firm. If the court had ruled in their favor, they would have recouped 1 billion won out of the taxes paid. Koo’s side argued that the value of the unlisted CNS share was calculated based on trades between small shareholders and could differ from actual market prices.
Currently, Koo is facing a separate lawsuit from his mother and sisters, who are demanding a redivision of the inheritance. Koo inherited an 8.76 per cent share in LG Corp, becoming the biggest shareholder, while his two sisters were given shares of 2.01 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively, along with the late chairman’s personal assets. Koo is the nephew of the late chairman, who adopted him in 2004 after his only son died in a car accident, and became LG chairman in June 2018.
