South Korea proposes 2025 tax reform with dividend, corporate changes

Published 31/07/2025, 11:22
South Korea proposes 2025 tax reform with dividend, corporate changes

Investing.com -- South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance announced a draft for the 2025 tax reform on Thursday, introducing several key changes to the country’s tax structure.

The reform creates a separate taxation system for dividend income from high-dividend-paying companies, with rates ranging from 14% to 35%. To qualify, listed companies must maintain or increase dividend amounts year-over-year while meeting additional criteria - either maintaining a dividend payout ratio of 40% or higher, or having a payout ratio of at least 25% with annual dividends increasing 5% or more compared to the three-year average.

For dividends distributed through capital reserves, major shareholders will face taxation on amounts exceeding the acquisition costs of their shares.

The proposal partially reverses tax relief measures implemented by the previous administration. Corporate income tax rates will increase by 1 percentage point across all brackets, shifting from the current 9-24% range to 10-25%.

Securities transaction taxes will also rise, with a 5 basis point increase for both the KOSPI (from 0% to 0.05%) and KOSDAQ (from 0.15% to 0.2%) exchanges.

Additionally, the capital gains tax threshold for major shareholders has been tightened significantly, dropping from ₩5 billion to ₩1 billion.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers
© 2007-2025 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.