The tax burden in major complexes in Seoul and the metropolitan area is expected to increase due to rising housing prices.
A total of 548,000 people are required to pay comprehensive real estate tax (comprehensive real estate tax) this year. However, this year, as housing prices rose sharply, especially in major complexes in Seoul and the metropolitan area, 50,000 people were forced to pay a new comprehensive real estate tax.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the National Tax Service announced on the 26th that there are 548,000 people eligible to pay comprehensive real estate tax (housing + land) this year. This is about 50,000 more than in 2023, when the number plummeted from 1.31 million to 500,000. This year’s total comprehensive tax amount is 5 trillion won, an increase of about 300 billion won compared to last year, which plummeted from 7.5 trillion won to 4.7 trillion won.
The National Tax Service said, “This year’s comprehensive tax notice number and tax amount are similar to last year, when the comprehensive real estate tax number and tax amount decreased significantly.” In 2023, due to the revision of the Comprehensive Tax Act, measures such as raising the basic deduction amount, lowering the tax rate, and easing the tax burden for those who own multiple homes were applied, resulting in a sharp decline of more than 60% compared to 2022. The number of people paying comprehensive real estate tax for housing has also decreased by about one-third, and the total comprehensive tax amount has also decreased by about 30% compared to 2022.
Looking at housing alone, the number of people eligible to pay comprehensive real estate tax and the amount of tax this year were 460,000 and 1.6 trillion won, respectively. Compared to last year, the number of people paying has increased by 50,000 and the amount of tax has increased by about 100 billion.
This is because the government lowered the publicly announced price realization rate (ratio of publicly announced price to market price) in 2023 to 69%, the level of 2020, and then froze it for two consecutive years in order to ease the tax burden. However, the steep rise in housing prices in major complexes in Seoul reflected the market price fluctuations. An official from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said, “This is due to the 1.52% increase in the publicly announced price of apartment complexes nationwide this year compared to last year, along with the supply of new housing in 2023.”
<img src="https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/11/26/13050The National Tax Service sequentially sent payment notices to comprehensive real estate tax payers starting on the 25th. The notified comprehensive real estate tax must be paid by the 16th of the following month.
An official from the National Tax Service said, “If the comprehensive real estate tax payment exceeds 3 million won, payment can be made in installments of up to 6 months without the burden of additional interest.” In addition, “among those who own one home per household, senior citizens over 60 years of age who meet certain requirements and long-term owners of more than 5 years can defer payment of comprehensive real estate tax for housing if they provide tax payment collateral until reasons such as transfer, gift, or inheritance of the home arise.” He said.
Jeong Bong-oh, Donga.com reporter bong087@donga.com