As the bereaved families of the late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee applied to the financial authorities for joint ownership of Samsung Life's stake, the distribution structure of shares held by Chairman Lee is not expected to be decided for a considerable period after reporting inheritance tax. The late Chairman Lee holds 20.76% of the Samsung Life shares.
According to financial authorities on April 27, Hong Ra-hee, former Leeum Museum of Art, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin and Samsung Welfare Foundation Chairman Lee Seo-hyun submitted an application containing such contents to the Financial Services Commission on April 26.
According to the "Act on the Governance of Financial Companies," if a stock is acquired due to inheritance and becomes a major shareholder of an insurer, it must apply for approval to the Financial Services Commission within three months from the date of the death of an existing shareholder.
In the case of Chairman Lee, he passed away on October 26 last year and passed the deadline for submitting the application for major shareholder change to the Financial Services Commission once.
As a result, the Financial Services Commission plans to examine whether Hong Ra-hee, CEO Lee Boo-jin and Chairman Lee Seo-hyun, excluding Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, meet the requirements of major shareholders.
Vice Chairman Lee was previously excluded from the screening list after obtaining approval from the Financial Services Commission as a related party to the late Chairman Lee, the largest shareholder at the time, when he acquired a stake in Samsung Life Insurance in 2014. At that time, Vice Chairman Lee acquired a 0.06% stake in Samsung Life Insurance.
In the application, the four bereaved families reportedly did not describe how they would share their stakes in Samsung Life Insurance.
Consultations on the division of shares in Samsung Life have yet to be concluded among the bereaved families, and related details are expected to be supplemented when the discussions are completed later.
The heirs to the late Chairman Lee's holdings must report the details of the shares inherited by the 30th of this month to the tax authorities. However, if the heirs did not reach an agreement on the split, they can file a revised report to the National Tax Service after confirming the ratio of inheritance or provisional agreement.
Therefore, it is expected that the Samsung families will take time to discuss the split ratio slowly after reporting it in accordance with the provisional inheritance.
However, in the case of the spouse, in order to receive a deduction of 3 billion won ($2.7 million), the division ratio must be determined and reported to the tax authorities within six months of reporting.
However, considering the inheritance tax amount of the Samsung family, the amount of deductions is insignificant.
Securities sources are also talking about handing over the late Chairman Lee's stake in Samsung Electronics to Samsung C&T.
If the inheritance ratio changes, including corporations such as Samsung C&T as well as the Samsung families, the total amount of inheritance tax will also change significantly.
If the total amount of inheritance tax decreases due to an increase in the inheritance ratio of corporations, bereaved families will be refunded inheritance tax.
Meanwhile, Lee and other bereaved families are required to report and pay inheritance tax on the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee by the 30th of this month. The business community is also paying attention to the size of Samsung's social return in line with the announcement of inheritance tax of the late Chairman Lee.
