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Photo = Yonhap news |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] Yoon Kwan, CEO of BlueRun Ventures (BRV) and the eldest son-in-law of the LG family, filed a lawsuit challenging the National Tax Service’s comprehensive income tax assessment but ultimately lost.
On Thursday, the Seoul Administrative Court's Division 5 (Presiding Judge Kim Soon-yeol) ruled against Yoon in his lawsuit against the Gangnam Tax Office, seeking to overturn the imposed income tax assessment.
The tax authorities had conducted an audit on Yoon and determined that he had failed to report dividend income between 2016 and 2020. As a result, he was charged 12.3 billion KRW in income tax. Yoon initially appealed the decision to the Tax Tribunal, but after his appeal was dismissed, he filed a lawsuit in the Administrative Court in March 2023.
The central issue in the case was whether Yoon, a U.S. citizen, qualified as a "resident" under Korean tax law, which would require him to pay comprehensive income tax in Korea. Under the Income Tax Act, an individual is considered a resident if they have a domicile or a place of residence in Korea for at least 183 days.
Yoon argued that he was a non-resident under tax law and had no obligation to pay the assessed income tax. He claimed that, as a U.S. citizen, he had stayed in Korea for fewer than 183 days during the relevant tax period, thereby exempting him from Korean tax obligations.
However, the court rejected his claim. It ruled that Yoon had maintained a domicile in Korea since at least December 2011 and was therefore considered a resident regardless of the duration of his stay.
Among Yoon’s notable domestic investments is EcoPro Materials. His firm, BRV Capital Management, invested 92.6 billion KRW in the company, which went public in November 2023. Following its listing, BRV profited significantly from the investment. In May and June 2023, BRV sold 4.3 million shares of EcoPro Materials through two block deals, earning approximately 455 billion KRW. Yoon’s performance-based compensation from this investment is estimated to range from hundreds of billions to over a trillion KRW.
Yoon is married to Koo Yeon-kyung, the eldest daughter of the late Koo Bon-moo, former chairman of LG Group and head of the LG Welfare Foundation. His name also surfaced during the LG family's inheritance dispute, as recorded family conversations from the lawsuit hinted at his involvement, drawing public attention.
AlphaBIZ Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
