Korea's finance nominee puts the next non-occupancy easing in the presidential decree

The deduction has already moved once. Restoring it to 1.2 billion won from the 900 million won first proposed added 300 million won, a third more than the opening figure ^[3][1]. What sits between non-occupant owners and the treatment owner-occupiers get is 200 million won, and Sedaily reports that closing that gap at 1.4 billion won is understood to have become less likely ^[12][2].

The easing Lee actually described is somewhere else. He said exceptions will be recognized where non-occupancy is unavoidable, and that additional grounds for those exceptions will be "reviewed flexibly" when the presidential decree is amended ^[9]. Amending a decree does not require a vote. Sedaily lists two options under discussion: broadening the grounds counted as unavoidable non-occupancy, and keeping the fair market value ratio for single-home owners at the current 60% ^[10]. Neither moves the deduction figure the Assembly is reviewing ^[4].

"We do not regard every non-occupied home as held for speculative purposes," Lee said in the written answers, submitted on the 13th. The question he was answering asked whether holding a home slated for rebuilding without living in it for a long period counts as speculative demand ^[7][5]. He also said the government "sought to protect single homes used as residences as much as possible, while normalizing taxation on homes the owner does not live in" ^[8]. The remark that got the attention was that it is "difficult to conclude that demand is speculative based solely on the fact that the owner did not live in the home". He confined that to redevelopment and rebuilding districts, where demolition and loss of the structure are unavoidable ^[1][2].

Lee is himself a single-home owner who does not live in his property. He bought an apartment in Gwacheon in 2009 and has held it for more than 17 years. The building was demolished for rebuilding, and he lived there about four months, roughly 2% of the time he has owned it ^[6][3].

I would expect the further easing to arrive as a longer list of unavoidable non-occupancy grounds, with the cap staying at 1.2 billion won through the Assembly's tax review ^[4][9]. The counter is easy to state: the government has already conceded 300 million won once, and 200 million won is a small number in a floor negotiation ^[1][2]. Sedaily reports two larger asks. One is a combined 1.8 billion won deduction for married couples who jointly own a home they do not live in, 1.5 times the single-owner figure. The other is a delay to the capital gains long-term holding deduction overhaul now scheduled for 2029 ^[11][4]. If the bill that emerges carries 1.4 billion won for non-occupants, the pressure went through the Assembly after all, and the decree reading was wrong.