A video coding device includes a memory configured to store video data, and processing circuitry in communication with the memory. The processing circuitry is configured to determine that a current block of the video data stored to the memory is to be coded according to a merge mode, and to determine a temporal candidate associated with a merge candidate list for the current block in accordance with the merge mode. The processing circuitry is further configured to determine a pool of spatial candidates associated with the merge candidate list, based on each spatial candidate of the pool having a same reference picture as the temporal candidate, and to set a local illumination compensation (LIC) flag value for the temporal candidate based on respective LIC flag values of one or more spatial candidates of the pool.