사진 확대

With the active administration of government ministries, SK Hynix has escaped the gift tax "bomb" worth about 90 billion won. This is because SK Hynix is on the verge of imposing a large amount of taxes on the funds it has contributed to create an ecosystem of semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment (small manager), but the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Trade have joined forces to establish special regulations.

According to both inside and outside the government on the 14th, the Ministry of Finance and Economy recently established a special case for "taxation of gift tax on contributions to semiconductor testbed corporations." This applies to non-profit corporations that operate test beds designated under the Special Act on Semiconductors, where more than half of the board's directors are national and local officials, those recommended by the state and local governments, and executives and employees of public institutions.

The corporation subject to this special case is "Trinity Fab" to be created in Yongin Semiconductor Industrial Complex. It is a facility that provides opportunities for small manager companies to test products in the same clean room as the actual chip mass production environment. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, SK Hynix, Gyeonggi Province, and Yongin City invested a total of 874.6 billion won.

In particular, SK Hynix will contribute 430 billion won to Trinity Fab. It will provide a clean room free of charge and also provide a workforce of about 20 engineers to help small manager companies. However, the problem is that such support is interpreted as "gift." Initially, the financial authorities interpreted that SK Hynix would be a gift if it rented a building without handing over its name. In addition, if an employee who is paid at SK Hynix works at Trinity Fab, it is considered a "free service provision" and is similarly subject to gift tax. If it is considered an actual gift, SK Hynix's gift tax is expected to reach 90 billion won over five years.

With this special case, the financial resources of the company Trinity Fab can be fully used to strengthen the competitiveness of small-scale companies. However, these regulations do not apply retroactively to previously created non-profit foundations.

SK Hynix and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy actively discussed this point with the financial authorities and led to the creation of special regulations. Joo Hwan-wook, a policy coordinator at the Ministry of Finance, said in a press briefing on the 12th, "Trinity Fab is 50% funded by state funds and the public and private sectors are the same as the decision-making body," adding, "Since it is a corporation created for win-win cooperation, it is necessary to reduce the burden of gift tax, so the tax law revision includes tax exemption for property or profits donated by the empirical support corporation."