Korea’s gift tax gets remembered as “fifty million won is fine.” What actually decides the bill is who gave it to you and whether they gave you anything in the last ten years. Settle those two and the rest is one rate table. The calculator below works in the order the statute does.
1. The relationship sets the deduction. Spouse KRW 600m, a parent or grandparent KRW 50m (KRW 20m to a minor), a child or grandchild KRW 50m, relatives within the fourth degree KRW 10m — all of them aggregated over ten years (article 53).
2. Splitting a gift inside ten years changes nothing. KRW 400m to an adult child in one go costs KRW 58.2m; two gifts of KRW 200m cost KRW 58.2m — identical to the won. The earlier gift is added back and its tax deducted.
3. Past ten years it does change. The same KRW 400m becomes KRW 38.8m — a difference of KRW 19.4m. What separates them is not the amount but the date.
Enter the relationship and the amounts, and every line the statute walks appears in order — taxable base, tax, surcharge, tax already paid, filing credit.
Calculated as though you received cash. Property and shares need a valuation first, and those rules are a chapter of their own, so they are not here. “The same person” is the statute’s term — two parents count as one person (article 47(2)), while grandparents are separate. The KRW 50m deduction, by contrast, is one shared ceiling across parents and grandparents together (article 53(2)). Mixing the two tests gives a wrong answer. Gifts carrying debt and the exempt categories are not modelled. An estimate.
The numbers this calculator uses, and where they come from
The rate table is article 56 of the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act. It is the same table inheritance tax uses — the deductions are what differ.
| Taxable base | Rate | Progressive deduction |
|---|---|---|
| KRW 100m or less | 10% | — |
| Over 100m to 500m | 20% | KRW 10m |
| Over 500m to 1bn | 30% | KRW 60m |
| Over 1bn to 3bn | 40% | KRW 160m |
| Over 3bn | 50% | KRW 460m |
There is a way to check that the progressive deductions are right: the two formulas must agree at each boundary. A base of exactly KRW 100m at 10% is KRW 10m, and at 20% less the KRW 10m progressive deduction it is also KRW 10m. All four boundaries meet (checked directly).
One relationship moves the bill this much
The same KRW 300m, depending on who gave it.
| From | Deduction | Taxable base | Payable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spouse | KRW 600m | 0 | 0 |
| Parent or grandparent → adult | KRW 50m | KRW 250m | KRW 38.8m |
| Parent or grandparent → minor | KRW 20m | KRW 280m | KRW 44.62m |
| Relative within the 4th degree | KRW 10m | KRW 290m | KRW 46.56m |
| Anyone else | none | KRW 300m | KRW 48.5m |
The spouse’s KRW 600m is twelve times an adult child’s KRW 50m. And from the same parent, a minor pays KRW 5.82m more — the deduction fell by KRW 30m but the tax rose by only 20% of that, because the base sits in the 20% band.
Splitting a gift inside ten years changes nothing
“Split it and you get a lower band” circulates widely. Inside ten years it is not true — the totals are identical to the won.
| KRW 400m to an adult child | Calculation | Total |
|---|---|---|
| One gift of 400m | base KRW 350m | KRW 58.2m |
| 200m + 200m within ten years | 19.4m + 38.8m | KRW 58.2m |
| 200m + 200m ten years apart | 19.4m + 19.4m | KRW 38.8m |
The middle row matching the first is not a coincidence. On the second gift the earlier KRW 200m is added back and the KRW 20m already paid is deducted (articles 47(2) and 58). The mechanism is worked through in how the ten-year rule actually works.
What this calculator does not do
It does not value property or shares. Gift tax attaches to an assessed value, not to what changed hands, and the valuation rules are separate. Cash is assumed.
It does not handle a gift carrying debt. Where a liability transfers with the asset, that portion becomes a disposal rather than a gift — set out in gifts with debt attached.
Exempt categories are not modelled. Living expenses and education costs are carved out by article 46.
It will not decide who counts as “the same person” for you. Two parents are one person while grandparents are separate, yet the deduction is one ceiling across all of them. Which figure belongs in which box is a human decision.
Questions that remain
Below KRW 50m, is a return still required?
The tax is zero but the return is still due. Filing records that the deduction has been used. When the same parent gives again, that filing is what proves how much came before — and without it, questions about the source of funds get awkward. The deadline is three months from the end of the month in which the gift was received (article 68(1)).
KRW 50m from my parents and 50m from my grandfather — is 100m covered?
No. The KRW 50m is one ceiling across all ascendants (article 53(2)). Take 50m from your parents and the deduction is spent; the 50m from your grandfather is then taxable in full. On top of that a gift straight from a grandparent carries a 30% surcharge (article 57). “More givers, more allowance” is the most expensive misreading here.
Who pays the tax?
The recipient. Which means that if the giver pays it instead, that payment is treated as a further gift. How exactly that is computed, and what exceptions exist, we could not verify against the statute — check that point before arranging it.
Is the KRW 100m marriage deduction on top of the KRW 50m?
Yes, separate. The marriage and childbirth deduction sits in its own article (53-2) and is outside the ten-year aggregation. But marriage and childbirth share one ceiling of KRW 100m — having both does not make it 200m. Conditions and the clawback rules are quoted in full in the gift tax deduction limits.
At a base of exactly KRW 100m, is it 10% or 20%?
The 10% band is 100m or less, so it is 10% — KRW 10m. But the 20% formula (100m × 20% − the 10m progressive deduction) also gives KRW 10m. A table with progressive deductions is built so that the two formulas meet at every boundary, so either route gives the same answer. All four boundaries behave this way.
Sources
The Inheritance and Gift Tax Act — article 47(2) (ten-year aggregation and who counts as the same person), 53 (gift deductions), 53-2 (marriage and childbirth), 56 (rates), 57 (generation-skipping surcharge), 58 (credit for tax already paid), 68(1) (filing deadline), 69(2) (the 3% filing credit).
The rate table and the deduction limits were cross-checked against two unrelated sources, and then against this site’s own pages — the same table already set out in the inheritance tax guide, and the text of article 53 quoted in the gift tax deduction limits. Nothing diverged.
The statute itself could not be opened — the national law portal blocks automated retrieval.
Where to check further
Whether anything came in the last ten years. This is the box people most often leave empty. Bank records and earlier returns settle it.
For property or shares, the valuation first. Whether market value or assessed value applies decides the tax.
The gift tax screen on Hometax. Seeing the actual boxes on the return exposes what has been left out.
