Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The weather was pleasant that day; it was cooling down a bit. Gun-Ho visited the tax accountant's office in Jeongwang Town, Siheung City, that his sister found for GH Logistics' business. There seemed to be about six people working there. When he entered the office, Gun-Ho asked for Ms. Manager Yang. Gun-Ho's sister had called Ms. Manager Yang earlier to let her know that Gun-Ho would visit the office soon. Ms. Manager Yang was a lady in her 40s. Gun-Ho could notice that she had cosmetic surgery, on her eyes and nose for sure.

"I'm from GH Logistics. I believe that this office will be handling its tax matters."

"Oh, I see. Please have a seat."

"I'd like to talk with the tax accountant here."

"Our tax accountant? Can you just talk to me instead?"

When Gun-Ho glared at her, she started scanning Gun-Ho from his head to toe. Gun-Ho was not the man who he used to be that worked at a factory in the past. He now certainly looked like a wealthy businessman with power.

"I know GH Logistics' Ms. Director Gun-Sook Goo very well. I've met its president as well. May I ask you how you are related to GH Logistics?"

"I'm the major shareholder of GH Logistics. I'm hoping to have a consultation with the tax accountant regarding a capital gains tax."

"Oh, really? Sure. Please come with me."

Gun-Ho followed Manager Yang to the tax accountant's office.

The accountant was sitting at his desk looking at his computer monitor. He was short and skinny. Manager Yang introduced Gun-Ho to him while smiling.

"This man is from GH Logistics that we recently started working with. He has a few questions to ask you regarding a capital gains tax."

"Oh, really? Hello. It's nice to meet you. What would you like to know?"

Gun-Ho gave the tax accountant his business card before asking his questions. Gun-Ho's business card indicated that he was the president of more than three different companies— GH Mobile, GH Development, Dyeon Korea, etc.

"I am not running the GH Logistics' business, but I'm its major shareholder."

The tax accountant scanned Gun-Ho from his head to toe. Realizing Gun-Ho could be an important figure, the tax accountant asked his secretary to bring two cups of tea.

"Please bring us two cups of tea."

Gun-Ho said while taking out some documents for him, "GH Logistics used to be located in Seonghwan Town in Cheonan City before it moved to the current location in Siheung City. It had real property there which was used to store its freight trucks, and we sold it when we moved its location."

"How much did you sell it for?"

"We sold it at 6.5 billion won."

"Did you say 6.5 billion won?"

The high amount of the sales proceeds certainly intrigued the tax accountant. He seemed to think that this could be a good opportunity for him to make good money. The tax accountant dragged his chair toward Gun-Ho to get closer to him. Gun-Ho told the tax accountant the story about the GH Logistics' real property from purchasing a large parcel of land which had changed its land use to sell the land in order to invest in China.

"Hmm, so, you sold the land which you owned for less than a year to a cosmetics firm."

"The investment opportunity in China happened so quickly, so I didn't have any other choice but to sell the land."

"What sort of business are you doing in China?"

"It's a bus terminal and intercity bus service business."

"A bus terminal business? Isn't it a business that requires an enormous amount of funds?"

"It's a 50 million dollar project. I'm investing half of it— 25 million dollars."

"25 million dollars?!"

The tax accountant swallowed heavily, and he scanned Gun-Ho from his head to toe again.

"GH Logistics is currently a small company with the annual sales revenue of 1.2 billion won. However, once the investment in China starts, we will need more service from your office like consolidated financial statements."

"Of… of course."

"Well, today, I came to ask you about the capital gains tax related to that land which I recently sold. I'd like to know how much tax I should expect to be imposed."

"Of course. That's exactly what we do in this office. Capital gains tax for a company is included in its corporate tax, and you just need to pay for the profits that you made in the transaction. Since we still have time until the due date for a corporate tax, I will make the calculation and will let you know."

"Thank you."

"I think there is no problem claiming that the land had been used for the business purpose. But, you will still have to pay a high amount of tax since the company sold the land without owning it for more than a year. Even though the company had to sell it in order to make an investment in China, you will still have to pay the tax. I think you can expect around 500 million won. I will try to lower the amount by reflecting all possible business expenses that I could think of. GH Logistics is now our important client after all. Haha."

"Sounds great. Well, I will leave the copies of the relevant documents with you then."

"Oh, did I give you my business card?"

The tax accountant smiled broadly and took out his business card from his desk drawer, and he gave it to Gun-Ho.

"If you need anything at all from us, please don't hesitate to contact us. Haha."

"You will mostly be contacted by either GH Logistics' president or director. They are the ones who run the company on a daily basis."

"No problem, sir."

As Gun-Ho stood up from his seat, he offered his hand to the tax accountant for a handshake. After handshaking, Gun-Ho walked out of the office, and the tax accountant followed him. On the way, the tax accountant tapped Manager Yang's shoulder giving a sign to come with him. The tax accountant and Manager Yang followed Gun-Ho to the elevator to see him off. When Gun-Ho entered the elevator, they gave a 90-degree bow to Gun-Ho.

'That's weird,' Manager Yang thought. GH Logistics was just a small company with monthly sales revenue of 100 million won. It was certainly not big enough to get the tax accountant's personal attention like that. Manager Yang couldn't understand why the tax accountant came all the way to the elevator to give a 90-degree bow to a small company's major shareholder.

After seeing off Gun-Ho, the tax accountant came back to his office and searched the companies shown on Gun-Ho's business card, on the internet. He first opened the Financial Supervisory Service website, called DART (Data Analysis, Retrieval, and Transfer System).

"GH Mobile and GH Development are listed on DART. I don't see Dyeon Korea here though. Maybe this company isn't generating good revenue to be on it."

The tax accountant googled GH Mobile first.

"Huh? This company made 81.6 billion won last year! Even though it has high debts, it's not a small company at all."

The tax accountant then googled GH Development.

"This one generated 10 billion won last year. It seems to be a typical small or medium-sized company. Huh? What is this? The company's asset is 200 billion won? With the capital of 40 billion won? Wow. It seems that the company owns a real property—a commercial building. Whoa. How big a building would be, that is worth 200 billion won? The building must be located somewhere around Gangnam District in Seoul City. I don't know of any building that is expensive in Siheung City or Ansan City. Wow. That man must be very wealthy!"

The tax accountant walked out of his office while holding his hands behind his back. When he saw Manager Yang, he said to her, "Do you have any idea who that man was? The man who just visited our office?"

"He said he was the major shareholder of GH Logistics. GH Logistics is a company with monthly sales revenue of 100 million won. It seems that its president is not the owner. They have a director and a major shareholder."

Manager Yang smiled sarcastically showing that the tax accountant didn't have to follow Gun-Ho all the way to the elevator just to give a 90-degree bow to him. The tax accountant smiled and said while shaking his head, "That man owns a commercial building that is worth 200 billion won."

"Really?"

"You shouldn't take the business lightly with GH Logistics even though it's a small company now. You will have to pay attention to that company."

"Yes, sir."