The corporate tax expense that Samsung Electronics recognized on an accounting basis last year came to nearly 4.3 trillion won. As earnings improved with the memory chip supercycle (boom period), the corporate tax expense also increased by nearly 1.2 trillion won. Samsung Electronics' annual operating profit last year was 43.6011 trillion won, up 33.2% from the previous year. By simple calculation, the corporate tax expense amounts to 10% of last year's annual operating profit.
According to Samsung Electronics' audit report on the 25th, the company's corporate tax expense on a consolidation basis for 2025 totaled 4.2747 trillion won. Compared with the previous year's corporate tax expense (3.0784 trillion won), it increased 38.9% (1.1963 trillion won).
Corporate tax expense reflected in the income statement may differ from the taxes actually paid. That is because the accounting standards followed when preparing financial statements differ from the tax code standards applied when calculating actual taxes. In corporations, when economic performance or obligations arise, revenue and expense for the period are reflected in accounting regardless of actual cash flows. Taxation, by contrast, is calculated by assessing revenue and expense recognized under the tax code. Even for the same transaction, differences can occur, such as when it has already been recognized as an expense in accounting but is not treated as an expense under the tax code. In fact, Samsung Electronics' consolidated cash flow statement last year showed corporate tax payments of 7.1373 trillion won.
Corporate tax expense represents the tax burden under accounting standards. It is calculated by reflecting deferred corporate tax in the actual payable tax amount (current corporate tax) computed based on taxable income for the period. Deferred corporate tax captures differences arising from the divergence between accounting and tax code standards and represents future tax effects. When something has been recognized as an expense in accounting but has not yet been recognized under the tax code, it is classified as "deferred tax assets." In the opposite case, it is reflected in accounting as "deferred tax liabilities."
Samsung Electronics' current corporate tax last year totaled 9.3117 trillion won, up 26.3% from the previous year (7.3739 trillion won). The size of deferred corporate tax last year was also 5.0370 trillion won, a 17.3% increase from the previous year. The "corporate tax expense" was derived by subtracting 5.0370 trillion won—estimated to reduce the future burden—from current corporate tax.
The sharp increase in Samsung Electronics' corporate tax expense in just one year is attributed to improved earnings driven by growth in the memory chip business. Corporate tax is calculated by applying the tax base to net profit.
Samsung Electronics posted annual revenue of 333.6059 trillion won and operating profit of 43.6011 trillion won last year. Revenue rose 10.9% from a year earlier, setting an "all-time high." Accordingly, Samsung Electronics' profit before corporate tax expense last year also climbed 31.9% from the previous year to 49.4814 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics' fourth-quarter revenue last year rose 23.8% from the same period a year earlier to 93.8374 trillion won, marking the largest quarterly performance on record. Operating profit for the period came to 20.0737 trillion won, up 209.2% from a year earlier. It is the first case among domestic corporations in which quarterly operating profit exceeded 20 trillion won. Of Samsung Electronics' fourth-quarter operating profit last year, the DS (semiconductor) business accounted for about 81.5%.
According to the Ministry of Finance and Economy's "2025 total revenue and total expenditure closing results" on the 10th, national tax revenue last year totaled 373.9 trillion won, an increase of 37.4 trillion won from the previous year. Corporate tax last year was 84.6 trillion won, up 22.1 trillion won (35.3%) from the previous year, which had a large impact.
Meanwhile, the size of corporate tax credits and reductions that Samsung Electronics reflected on an accounting basis last year was 8.3752 trillion won, up 1.8088 trillion won from the previous year.