In a lawsuit filed by the late Lotte Group honorary chairman Shin Kyuk-ho against the imposition of a gift tax of 200 billion won by the National Tax Service, he won the appeal following the first trial.
Administrative Division 1-3 of the Seoul High Court (Judge Seung-han Shim, Jun-bo Shim and Jong-ho Kim) ruled today (12th) in favor of the plaintiff, as in the first instance, in a lawsuit against the president of the Jongno Tax Office to cancel the disposition of gift tax.
The tax authorities assessed that Shin had evaded gift tax by selling a 6.2% stake in Japan's Lotte Holdings, the holding company of the Lotte Group, under a borrowed name, and then sold it to diesel products.
Diesel Corporation is a company in which honorary chairman Shin and her common-law relationship, Mi-kyung Seo, are the major shareholders.
Such information was revealed in 2016 during the prosecution's investigation into the management corruption of the Lotte Group's head family, and the National Tax Service handed over 212.6 billion won in gift tax to honorary chairman Shin.
Honorary Chairman Shin filed an administrative lawsuit against taxation in May 2018, but passed away in January 2020 before the verdict of the first instance was issued.
Accordingly, her children, former Lotte Welfare Foundation Chairman Shin Young-ja, SDJ Corporation Chairman Shin Dong-ju, and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, took over the lawsuit.
(Photo = Yonhap News)