Korea Family Business Succession Association free consultation review | Preparing for family business succession, why you had to start sooner than expected

To be honest, I was also the person who thought, “It’s still going to be okay.”

business for a long time, the issue of succession was always put off as ‘something to think about later.’ Then, seeing a fellow executive around me suddenly develop health problems, I felt like I had been punched in the back. It was only after seeing a case where a succession was carried out in a hasty manner without preparation and a tax bomb was hit, that I began to look into it seriously and applied for a free consultation with the Korea Family Business Succession Association.

Questions I had before consultation

I'm not planning on taking over right away, so is counseling meaningful?

Shouldn’t tax issues be left to a tax accountant?

association consultation just mean explaining the system?

Honestly, I didn't have high expectations.

I received actual consultation and found

It was not the “system explanation + brochure delivery” I expected. Chairman of the board, Dr. Bongsu Kim, has a doctoral degree in family business succession consulting, and he addressed not only the tax aspect, but also the transfer of management rights, fostering successors, and governance issues.

There was something that particularly impressed me.

"Calculating taxes is a later issue. Moving now when stock values are low is the first step."

This one word cleared my mind. He explained the special taxation system for gift tax in family business succession, and said that since the low tax rate of 10% is applied up to 12 billion won, now is the best time to transfer shares as the stock value is low.

My experience was different when it was explained in concrete numbers that the family business inheritance deduction system allows deductions of up to KRW 30 billion for over 10 years, KRW 40 billion over 20 years, and up to KRW 60 billion for over 30 years, depending on the business period.

Things I didn’t know about

, I simply thought that succession = tax issue, but in reality, it was much more complicated.

Is management ready to step down, can the successor be trusted by business partners, and can employees accept the new decision-making structure? It was only when all of these things fit together that succession would actually take place.

There have also been quite a few changes in laws starting from 2026. It is said that the follow-up management period was gradually shortened from 10 years to 5 years, and the method of calculating the acquisition value for carryover taxation was also changed in February of this year.

I recommend it to these people

Those who have not done anything yet because they think succession is 5 to 10 years away

Those who thought everything could be solved by leaving it to a tax accountant

Those who have a successor but are not sure how to pass it on

Those who have heard of family business inheritance deductions or special gift tax exemptions, but do not know whether they apply to their situation

Wrapping up

If you're putting it off like me and thinking "there's still time," I recommend getting a free consultation at least once.

Through this consultation, my question changed from ‘When should I start preparing?’ to ‘What should I start with right now?’ . That was the biggest harvest.

Korea Family Business Succession Association on the official website.