You inherit a parent’s home and now hold two. If you sell the one you already had, can you still get the one-home exemption? Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree Article 155(2) says that a household holding one inherited home and one other (ordinary) home that sells the ordinary home is treated as owning one home for the exemption test (Art. 154(1)). The conditions sit inside long brackets: a home bought after the inheritance, or one gifted by the deceased within 2 years before it, is not an ordinary home. The checker walks through them.
1. One inherited + one ordinary home: selling the ordinary one counts as one home (Decree Art. 155(2)).
2. The ordinary home must already be held when the inheritance began — not one gifted by the deceased within 2 years before.
3. If the deceased owned several homes, only one ranked home counts — ownership period, residence period, residence at death, standard value.
Checker
Updates as you choose. Only checks the conditions of Decree Art. 155(2)–(3); whether the sale itself meets the one-home rule (2-year holding, residence, 1.2bn) is a separate question. The same-household outcome is our reading of the proviso.
The provisions
| Type | What the source says | Worth noting (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| Art. 155(2) main text | A household holding one inherited home and one other home (only a home held at the start of the inheritance …, excluding a home gifted by the deceased within 2 years before the start of the inheritance — the “ordinary home”) that sells the ordinary home is treated as owning one home in Korea for Art. 154(1). | A home bought after the inheritance doesn’t qualify |
| What counts as the inherited home | Includes a new home built from an inherited membership or sale right. If the deceased owned two or more homes, only one home picked by the ranking below | Other inherited homes aren’t this rule’s inherited home (ours) |
| Proviso to para. 2 | If heir and deceased were one household at the inheritance, only a home held before merging households to care for a lineal ascendant (incl. a spouse’s; one or both aged 60+ owning one home) counts as inherited. | Same-household inheritances fall outside, on our reading |
| Art. 155(3) | When selling a home other than a co-inherited home, the co-inherited home is not that resident’s home — except for the heir with the largest share; if several tie, (1) the one living there, (2) the eldest. | Minority co-heirs leave it out of the count |
If the deceased owned several homes — ranking
| Rank | Text | Worth noting (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The home the deceased owned longest | Check the register |
| 2 | If tied, the one the deceased lived in longest | Residence records |
| 3 | If both tied, the one the deceased lived in at death | — |
| 4 | Never lived in and tied on ownership: highest standard value (if equal, the heir chooses) | — |
Four cases — our example
| Case (our example) | Result | Worth noting (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| Lived 10 years in my home, inherited my father’s separate home, sell mine | Treated as one home | Art. 154 holding rules still apply to mine |
| Inherited, then bought a new home, sell the new one | Not covered | Not held at the inheritance |
| Gifted a home by my father a year before he died, plus the inherited home, sell the gifted one | Not covered | Gift within 2 years is excluded |
| Three siblings co-inherit (I am not the largest), sell my own home | Co-inherited home not counted | Art. 155(3); the reverse for the largest share |
The checker only asks whether you get through this rule’s door. Once through, Art. 154(1) applies as if you owned one home, so the ordinary home still needs 2 years’ holding (residence of 2 years if it was in a regulated area when bought) and the KRW 1.2bn cap — see one-home exemption.
Checklist
- ☐ The ordinary home was acquired before the inheritance began
- ☐ It wasn’t gifted by the deceased within 2 years before
- ☐ Same household as the deceased at the time? (resident register)
- ☐ Several homes? Which one ranks as the inherited home
- ☐ Co-inheritance: is your share the largest?
Questions that remain
What if I sell the inherited home first?
Paragraph 2 only covers selling the ordinary home; selling the inherited home is outside it.
Is there a deadline to sell the ordinary home?
The main text of paragraph 2 sets no deadline the way the temporary two-home rule (para. 1) does; we found none in what we read.
Same household but no care merger?
The proviso limits same-household cases to homes held before a care merger, so on our reading other cases fall outside. Check with the tax office.
Sources
- Korean law database (law.go.kr) — Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree Art. 155(2)–(3) — source (current text, effective 1 October 2026, Decree No. 36737; checked 22 October 2026). Para. 2 inherited and ordinary homes (held at the inheritance, gifts within 2 years excluded), ranking 1–4 for several homes, same-household proviso (care merger, 60+), para. 3 co-inherited homes and the largest share.
- Not read. Other paragraphs linked to para. 2 (membership rights), transitional rules, rulings.
- What we added. The “worth noting” column and the Korean everyday gloss.
Where to check further
- Your tax office or Hometax — the home ranking and household test.
Written on 22 October 2026. The content is from the source; the glosses are ours.
