An apparatus and method for parallel symbol cancellation in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system supporting spatial multiplexing. The method includes selecting one of four quadrants representing all points on a constellation having normalization distribution, selecting a single reference point in the selected quadrant and generating a reference value corresponding to the single reference point, generating addition values for representing other points than the single reference point using a difference of a size of each of the points having the normalization distribution, and summing up the reference value and the addition values. The apparatus includes modules configured for performing the parallel symbol cancellation with reduced complexity.