Korea Inheritance Tax Calculator
Enter the estate value and heir composition to calculate Korean inheritance tax (상속세) — including the basic/personal/spouse/ financial-asset/co-residence deductions, progressive rates, and the filing tax credit.
⚠ This calculator only supports spouse- and descendant (children)-centered inheritance. Cases where neither a spouse nor children survive — so ancestors or siblings become the heirs — use a different statutory-share formula and are out of scope.
Legal basis
- Basis: Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act (상속세및증여세법) Art. 13 (taxable value / prior-gift aggregation), Art. 18 (basic deduction), Art. 19 (spouse deduction), Art. 20 (other personal deductions), Art. 21 (lump-sum deduction), Art. 22 (financial asset deduction), Art. 23-2 (co-residence house deduction), Art. 24 (deduction limit), Art. 26 (tax rates), Art. 27 (generation-skipping surcharge), Art. 28 (gift tax credit), Art. 69(1) (filing tax credit) — View statute text
- Basis: Civil Act (민법) Art. 1009 (statutory inheritance share — a surviving spouse's share is 1.5× a descendant's share)
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the spouse deduction so complicated?
The spouse deduction is min(amount the spouse actually
inherits, taxable estate value × the spouse's statutory share,
₩3 billion), with a floor of ₩500 million always applied
(Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act Art. 19). The statutory share
comes from Civil Act Art. 1009: a spouse's share is 1.5× a
descendant's share — for example, with a spouse and 2 children, the
spouse's statutory share is 1.5/3.5 (about 42.9%) of the estate.
Which applies — lump-sum or basic+personal deductions?
Whichever is larger between the basic deduction (₩200 million) plus other personal deductions (child/minor/elderly/ disabled), and the lump-sum deduction (₩500 million), is applied automatically (Art. 21). However, when the spouse inherits alone, the lump-sum option isn't available — only the basic + personal deduction total applies.
Why is there a cap on total deductions?
Total inheritance deductions can't exceed the taxable estate value minus property bequeathed to non-heirs and prior-gift value (net of the gift deduction already used on those gifts) (Art. 24). This prevents claiming both a gift deduction on an earlier gift and a full inheritance deduction on the same wealth.
Why are prior gifts added back into the estate?
This prevents avoiding the progressive inheritance tax rate by gifting assets away before death. Gifts to heirs within 10 years, or to non-heirs within 5 years, before death are added to the taxable estate value. Gift tax already paid on those gifts is then subtracted as a gift tax credit to avoid double taxation (Art. 13, Art. 28).
What are the co-residence house deduction requirements?
① The deceased and the heir (a descendant) must have lived together in one house for 10+ years (excluding the heir's minor years) up to the date of death; ② during that period, they must have maintained single-home-per-household status; ③ as of the date of death, the heir must be homeless or have jointly held that one house with the deceased (Art. 23-2). All three must be met to deduct 100% of the house's value, capped at ₩600 million.