Taxes on passing on a business are paid in cash. An heir whose wealth is mostly shares often has one main source of cash: dividends. A count published by the Korean outlet Newsway on 13 October 2026 suggests that payouts do tend to rise after a handover.
What the count found
Citing the financial investment industry, Newsway looked at 58 listed companies where the largest shareholder changed from one individual to another and dividend data was available.
- In 40 of the 58, the payout ratio, the share of profit paid out as dividends, rose after the change.
- In the 29 companies that had paid little before, the average payout ratio rose from 9.4% in the two years before the change to 24.3% in the two years after.
Newsway does not say who ran the analysis, which years it covers, or how the averages were calculated.
Two examples
SL Corp, an auto parts maker, paid ₩127.6 billion in dividends for 2025, against ₩55.3 billion a year earlier. Its payout ratio rose to 39.8%, from 11.9% to 16.7% in 2022 to 2024. The vice chairman, the largest shareholder with 26.46%, received about ₩34 billion, according to Newsway.
Ace Bed: the chief executive’s two sons received shares as gifts in 2025, and in October that year they pledged them as collateral to pay the gift tax in instalments. The dividend for ordinary shareholders rose from ₩1,450 to ₩2,300 per share for 2025, while the controlling family takes a lower ₩2,200 under a split dividend policy.
A new tax rule adds a reason to pay out: dividends from companies that meet payout tests can be taxed separately at 14% to 30%, Newsway notes.
The deduction that has not moved
Korea’s lump-sum inheritance tax deduction of ₩500 million has not changed since 1997, Mediapen reported on 10 October. Citing a report by the Center for Free Enterprise, a Seoul think tank, it says the 1997 amount equals about ₩1.02 billion in 2025 prices, and that of 22,524 inheritance tax assessments in 2025, 17,294, or 76.8%, had a taxable amount of ₩1 billion or less. The National Assembly’s tax subcommittee starts reviewing tax bills in November. Hankyung Money noted in August that the government’s 2026 tax package left inheritance and gift tax changes out.
For the largest families, transfers and the cash to fund them run into trillions of won: see how Samsung’s heir is receiving his mother’s shares and how SK’s chairman is selling shares while keeping control. Germany is having a similar debate over business heirs.
What to watch
- Whether the tax subcommittee changes the deductions in November.
- Whether a full, published study confirms the 58-company pattern.
- Dividend decisions for 2026 at companies in the middle of a handover.
A fair caveat
The 58-company count comes from one outlet, and its method was not disclosed. Payouts can rise for other reasons, such as higher profits or the new dividend tax rules, so the numbers show a pattern, not a cause.
Questions to bring to your advisors
If our shares passed to the next generation, how would the heirs pay the tax, and would the company’s dividend policy have to change? These are questions to bring to your lawyers and tax advisors, not advice.