20 billion apartments aren't luxury houses?a local tax law that does not reflect reality

Acquisition tax was imposed by applying 'high-end housing', but the decision to cancel was made
Seoul Decides that there is an area for actual use
Tax Tribunal decides to 'cancel' based on building ledger records
Repeated cases of PH129 in Cheongdam-dong, 10 billion apartments

[Anchor]
In our local tax law, there is a system that imposes heavy acquisition tax on so-called 'high-end housing'.

The purpose is to redistribute social wealth by paying more taxes on so-called "luxury property," and it is pointed out that the wording and application of the law do not reflect reality at all.

Reporter Kim Ki-bong's report.

[Reporter]
Nine-in-one Hannam in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, with a large area and a market price of 20 billion won!

The Seoul Metropolitan Government imposed a heavy acquisition tax on some households in the apartment by applying the standard of "high-end housing."

However, the Tax Tribunal recently decided to cancel the imposition, saying it was unfair, and returned the 200 billion won in heavy taxation that had already been collected.

The so-called "high-end housing" was canceled due to the decision to cancel the imposition based on the Local Tax Act, which allows it to impose four times the heavy tax rate, or 8% of the standard tax rate.
The result is that a house worth 20 billion won is not a 'luxury house'.

The law came into force exactly 50 years ago in 1975, and although the standards have changed a little, it is pointed out that it does not properly reflect reality.

The Enforcement Decree of the Act stipulates that luxury houses are more than 245 square meters of floor space and 274 square meters of double-decker houses, but the price standard is only "among houses exceeding 900 million won."The standard for

luxury homes, in fact, only covers the area regardless of the price, and 167 households in this apartment are moving away from it by 1 square meter of dedicated area.

In the case of this apartment, the Seoul Metropolitan Government believes that individual underground warehouses, individual allocation parking lots, and elevator halls are actually used exclusively, but

[Seoul Metropolitan Government official: Even if it's a public area for study, isn't this the space that the generation is using alone? Yes, that's how we taxed it..]

The Tax Tribunal decided that heavy taxation was unfair based on the area written on the building register.

The process of PH129 in Gangnam-gu, another over 10 billion units of expensive housing, is repeated like deja vu.

[Park Hap-soo/Professor of Konkuk University Graduate School of Real Estate] In particular, apartment houses are very expensive now, so it is expected that it will be a practical addition for us to lower these standards by designating them together with price and area standards.]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government issued an unusual statement on the issue and expressed strong regret over the decision of the Tax Tribunal to ignore the provisions of the law and the principle of real taxation that do not fit the reality.

I'm Kim Ki-bong of YTN.


Photographer: Wang Xion
Design: Lee Ga-eun