중소기업의 가업승계관련 상속세 부담 및 담세능력 분석: 상속재산의 포트폴리오 특성을 중심으로

This paper addresses the succession tax burdens and taxpaying abilities of Korean SMEs using unique dataset of 126 companies using simulations. According to the results, the average money value of each ancestor’s total wealth is KRW 10.15 billion including stocks of family businesses, real estates, financial assets and other properties such as memberships and retirement pays. The average money value of family business is KRW 5.91 billion estimated on the relevant tax laws. The average amount of succession tax is KRW 3.80 billion for each successor to succeed all the inherited properties from his or her ancestor if he or she will not get tax deduction for family business succession. Under the assumption that all the successors can satisfy the preconditions for the full deduction, then the tax amount goes down to KRW 1.84 billion. But only 48.0% of the successors of sample companies actually satisfied the preconditions for the deduct and in this case the succession tax amount is KRW 2.87 billion. Under the assumption that all the successors cannot get the tax deduction and the imposed succession tax should be pay by the inherited liquid properties such as cash, financial asset and other liquid properties, then most of the successors confront with the lack of fund to pay, an amount up to KRW 23.8 billion on average. Under the assumption that all the successors can get the deduction fully, the fund shortage goes to KRW 420 million. The reason why the successors have not enough funds to pay succession taxes might be explained by the skewness in the portfolios of inherited properties. Simply, the ancestors have too much real estates and too little liquid assets. The propensity results in not only huge tax amount incurred for business succession but also the lack of fund liquidity to pay the tax. Interestingly, it is found that some of sample companies that are run by CEOs who have more business related assets and less personal real estates in their property portfolios show higher profitability than the others. In order to avoid troubles embedded in succession of family business in terms of tax issue, CEOs need to restructure their property portfolios before the event of succession. Also it is recommended for the policy makers to focus on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the current succession tax system by reviewing the details of the relevant laws rather than to expand the limit amount of the deduction and the scope of beneficiaries of the deduction dramatically.