Samsung's $8B inheritance tax saga is finally over — and the family kept control

The Lee family, which controls Samsung Group, completed an $8 billion inheritance tax bill in May 2026 — the largest such payment in South Korean history. Spread across six installments over five years, the sum equals roughly half of South Korea's entire inheritance tax revenue for 2024. For Samsung investors, the end of this saga removes a real and persistent risk that had hung over the stock for years.

The backstory

Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee died in October 2020, leaving an estate valued at around 26 trillion won (approximately $19 billion). South Korea's inheritance tax can reach 60% for major shareholders — the highest ceiling in the OECD — which left his heirs facing a bill of around 12 trillion won. Rather than sell large blocks of Samsung shares and risk destabilizing the market, the family filed for a deferred payment plan, spreading the cost from 2021 through 2026 in six tranches.

How the AI boom helped

Many analysts expected the family to be forced into significant share sales to raise cash. That didn't happen. The generative AI wave drove explosive demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips — a category where Samsung is a key supplier. Korea Herald reports that the resulting share surge, roughly 126% year-on-year at its peak, more than doubled the Lee family's net worth to around $45.5 billion. That allowed the family to fund payments largely through dividends and securities-backed loans rather than liquidations.

Alongside the cash payments, the family also donated more than 23,000 artworks — including pieces by Picasso and Monet, valued at roughly 10 trillion won — to South Korean national museums. Those donations reduced the cash burden somewhat, and the exhibitions have since drawn 3.5 million visitors, with overseas tours scheduled at the Smithsonian, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the British Museum.

What changes now

The completion of payments matters to anyone holding Samsung Electronics shares, which account for roughly a quarter of the Kospi index weighting. The five-year overhang — the constant possibility of a major forced share sale — is gone. Lee Jae-yong's stake in Samsung Electronics has actually risen to 1.67%, up from 0.70% before 2020, meaning family control is tighter now than when the process started.

The Investor notes the family's wealth trajectory reflects just how dramatically the AI semiconductor rally changed the calculus. What looked like a potential succession crisis became, in the end, a manageable multi-year payment plan — one the market can now close the book on.