Marry or have a child and you can receive ₩100M more — a deduction stacked on the ₩50M

Parents chip in ₩200M for a child about to marry. Given outright, the gift tax is ₩19.4M; given within two years either side of the marriage registration, ₩4.85M. The same ₩200M splits by ₩14.55M, a difference made by one date and one reason: the marriage and childbirth gift deduction introduced in 2024. It stacks ₩100M on top of the ₩50M a child ordinarily gets. Most people have heard the deduction exists but pass over when it starts and ends, what happens when both sets of parents give, and what happens if the marriage falls through. Tens of millions leak away there. Many assume ₩100M is deducted automatically upon marriage, but outside the dates it is zero. It is a deduction of dates, not of status.

Step ② Amount and combination. The deduction is ₩100M and is separate from the ordinary ₩50M, so together up to ₩150M is tax-free. ₩150M of wedding funds carries no gift tax; ₩200M leaves ₩50M above ₩150M at 10% with a 3% filing credit, ₩4.85M; ₩300M leaves ₩150M in the 20% bracket, ₩19.4M, where it would have been ₩38.8M without the deduction. But there is a combined limit: marriage and childbirth deductions together total ₩100M per lifetime. Use all ₩100M at marriage and nothing remains for the first child; split it ₩50M and ₩50M and ₩50M remains at childbirth. Not knowing, people assume ₩100M for each and pay tax at childbirth. It comes only from the parents' generation; grandparents qualify as lineal ascendants, but a generation-skipping gift carries a 30% surcharge. Real estate or shares get the same ₩100M, so it is not cash only.

Widening to both families gives the ₩300M table. It applies per recipient: the groom from his parents and the bride from hers, ₩150M each, ₩300M as a couple with no tax. If one set of parents gives all ₩300M it is ₩19.4M, so the same ₩300M splits by ₩19.4M on who gives to whom. The worksheet is three lines: ① registration date ± two years, ② up to ₩150M from each family, ③ the childbirth share. With those three, wedding-fund preparation is done. File within three months of the end of the month received, even with no tax, for the source of funds; without a marriage certificate or birth registration the deduction is rejected. When cash goes into a jeonse deposit or a home, the contract is the evidence of the source, so keep it with the return.

All three steps are passed: registration ± two years, ₩100M separate from ₩50M, ₩100M per lifetime, three months when it falls through. The same ₩200M split into ₩4.85M and ₩19.4M on a date. Outside the dates the whole deduction is lost, leaving a broken engagement alone brings penalties and interest, and using it all at marriage leaves ₩0 for childbirth. Two things to do now: put the planned registration date ± two years on the calendar, and table how much from each family and the childbirth share. Unavoidable causes and interest are in the decree, so consult a tax adviser.