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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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siborg69
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
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 Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:56 am Post subject: Not paying medical insurance..... |
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hey, im about to get my first pay and the school have told me that they're taking out 70,000 for tax and 30,000 housing fee. but there's no sign of medical insurance....when i asked about this, they said i could just claim under the owners name and that the father of one of the students has a surgery so there's no need to pay the fee....
but im worried that if something happens and im not near the director or the surgery, that i will be royally screwed. should i press them on this and say i want the proper national medical insurance? i know they're doing the same thing with the other teacher and the guy before me didnt pay any medical insurance....but he was just lucky that he didnt need to get anything done!
any advice would be appreciated!! |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 3:26 am Post subject: |
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So your school is pocketing 100,000 of your salary and you don't get pension or medical.
70,000 is quite high for income tax if your making in the low 2 millions. What's your salary? |
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siborg69
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 3:49 am Post subject: |
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| its 2.1 million, they say the tax rate is 3.3%. i know people making the same money as me but getting taxed about 7%! yeah, no medical insurance which im a bit worried about. i might have to press them on it tomorrow, i know i should be paying about 50,000 a month which i dont mind doing. they're obviously just trying to avoid paying the other half themselves. im not bothered about them not paying the pension, cos im from the UK so cant claim it back. its just the insurance im worried about |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:11 am Post subject: |
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| siborg69 wrote: |
| its 2.1 million, they say the tax rate is 3.3%. i know people making the same money as me but getting taxed about 7%! yeah, no medical insurance which im a bit worried about. i might have to press them on it tomorrow, i know i should be paying about 50,000 a month which i dont mind doing. they're obviously just trying to avoid paying the other half themselves. im not bothered about them not paying the pension, cos im from the UK so cant claim it back. its just the insurance im worried about |
Your taxes should be much lower than that. I believe that to get the lowest taxes possible (that's lowest withholding taxes - taxes, I believe are 8%, but you have to take into consideration deductions such as the basic amount, pension, medical, etc.), you'd have to be paying into pension and medical. Pension and medical are mandatory. Some might say that you can't have medical without pension because these offices talk to each other, but I think that can be avoided. I really don't think these offices catch on to that.
Your taxes should be around 40 some thousand. Not 70. That's if you've got medical and pension. Of course your boss could take out whatever amount and you could get a refund at tax time. Truth is, he's not remitting those taxes, so it's all a scam. So he really only should be taking out about 2%. If he's not paying into pension or medical, if you really think about it, he shouldn't be deducting any taxes at all and should be paying you with no deductions. What he's got working for him is a best of both worlds scenario. He doesn't pay any taxes, medical or pension and he pockets 70,000 of your salary. I suspect that this housing fee is also a scam. Why do you pay a housing fee? Fk that. Even if the landlords are charging this, I'd tell him to shove it up his arse. No way I'd pay a housing fee for nothing. Most of the time these landlords don't do a goddamned thing for it. It's a Korean scam. But maybe your boss is scamming you out of this. Do you get bills for it? Doesn't sound like it. Do you get any bills at all or does your boss deduct those from your salary, too?
If I were in your shoes, I'd press him on the medical and forget about the pension. Get him to deduct the proper amount for taxes and don't worry whether he's remitting those or not. I believe that can be done. Health coverage is 4.77% (you and you boss pay 2.385% each) unless that changed right after they increased them last year. ontheway, a poster here, mentioned something about this. Taxes, it seems, went up a bit more, too. A lot of people are having the old amount still deducted probably because their bosses don't remit the taxes. Taxes are always something that you can use as a weapon against your boss if he tries sneaky *beep* on you later on in your contract. Then you can threaten to run to the tax office. But it's important that you get the correct amount deducted now. So when you get the right amount deducted, just keep in mind that he's not remitting them anyway.
I wouldn't do pension if I were you, either. Could be beneficial by transfering those contributions over to your home county, but maybe you couldn't be arsed about that. |
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siborg69
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:23 am Post subject: |
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| i pay my own bills directly so should just be tax, housing fee and medical insurance. ive read on here about the housing fee, apparently its for general upkeep of the apartment building, collecting trash, communal electricity so im not overly bothered about that. its just the medical insurance really cos i font want to get screwed if somethin happens to me!! |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:33 am Post subject: |
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| siborg69 wrote: |
| i pay my own bills directly so should just be tax, housing fee and medical insurance. ive read on here about the housing fee, apparently its for general upkeep of the apartment building, collecting trash, communal electricity so im not overly bothered about that. its just the medical insurance really cos i font want to get screwed if somethin happens to me!! |
He is obligated by law to provide HNIC medical insurance.
http://www.nhic.or.kr/english/index.html
He is avoiding it to save money (2.385% of your salary as his contribution to your medical) and to avoid having to pay into your pension as well.
IF you get caught, YOU will be required to repay ALL of the back payments (your contributions and his) dating from your entry into Korea. You will also be required to backpay into your pension.
This does NOT bode well for your year here. I feel sorry for you. You face an uphill battle for your legally entitled benefits.
. |
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siborg69
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:35 am Post subject: |
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| excellent(!) i'll have a word with them tomorrow, tell them i want the medical insurance and wont take no for an answer. the annoying thing is, i thought i would be fine at this school because a friend of a friend worked there, i talked to him before taking the job and he said that it was a great school. i kinda knew they are doing something that they shouldnt, but just wanted some advice from people on here who have been through it all before |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:38 am Post subject: |
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| siborg69 wrote: |
| i pay my own bills directly so should just be tax, housing fee and medical insurance. ive read on here about the housing fee, apparently its for general upkeep of the apartment building, collecting trash, communal electricity so im not overly bothered about that. its just the medical insurance really cos i font want to get screwed if somethin happens to me!! |
Sounds like you don't get a bill for the housing fee. I wouldn't accept that. He's just ripping you off. Tell him to stuff that and to deduct the proper taxes and get your health booklet. NOW. Don't take that crap.
I'd seriously say to him, "Give me back what you deduct for a housing fee. You pay it." Do you pay an electricity bill? Do you pay gas? If so, there's no need to pay a housing fee.
I can't find the link for NTS (National Tax Service) Korea right now, but you can check your withholding taxes there. It's seriously only around 2% for your salary. Health is only just over 50,000 (50,085?). |
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siborg69
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:42 am Post subject: |
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| yeah, i worked out that medical insurance should be about 50,000 at most. i pay my own gas, elec etc. i'll have a chat with them tomorrow about all of this, but im not looking forward to it! cheers for the advice |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:43 am Post subject: |
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| yingwenlaoshi wrote: |
| I can't find the link for NTS (National Tax Service) Korea right now, but you can check your withholding taxes there. It's seriously only around 2% for your salary. Health is only just over 50,000 (50,085?). |
Try this link
http://www.nts.go.kr/front/service/refer_cal/gani/refer_gani_eng.asp
or if it doesn't work then go here:
http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/default.html
Click the link on the left for: "Check your monthly withholding tax"
Enter your salary in man won (eg: 2 million won = 2000, 2.2 million + 2200) |
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siborg69
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:47 am Post subject: |
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| thanks guys, found it and it says i should be paying about 36,000 tax. gonna get all this info together and go talk to them tomorrow about it. so i figure 36,000 tax, about 50,000 medical, not too sure about pension....but i'll see what they say tomorrow!! thanks again! |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:49 am Post subject: |
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| siborg69 wrote: |
| excellent(!) i'll have a word with them tomorrow, tell them i want the medical insurance and wont take no for an answer. the annoying thing is, i thought i would be fine at this school because a friend of a friend worked there, i talked to him before taking the job and he said that it was a great school. i kinda knew they are doing something that they shouldnt, but just wanted some advice from people on here who have been through it all before |
Oh, I'm sure everthing could go dandy fine at your job. It's when you point things like this out to them they react in such disbelief and assure you that everything is on the up and up. I, for one, don't like being nickled and dimed by an employer. I don't go for this "That's how it's done in Korea and I'm doing nothing wrong! I'm not cheating you!" But they are cheating you. Even if they pay you on time and pay your severance. It's still cheating. Sure, you could live without the extra 30,000 he pockets, but I can't stand one penny being cheated out of me. Nothing to do with being cheap.
But like ttompatz said, you have an uphill battle to face. Takes more than once to finally convince them. And it can be a headache. You have to be really forceful. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:52 am Post subject: |
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| siborg69 wrote: |
| thanks guys, found it and it says i should be paying about 36,000 tax. gonna get all this info together and go talk to them tomorrow about it. so i figure 36,000 tax, about 50,000 medical, not too sure about pension....but i'll see what they say tomorrow!! thanks again! |
+tax as per the table
+medical = 2.385% of your salary. The employer is required to match this.
- - Make sure you get the little booklet from them (the one you present to the doctor when you get medical services).
+pension is ABOUT 4.5% of your salary. Again, your employer is required to match this.
- - If you are from North America or Australia you will be entitled to a refund of ALL contributions made to your account when you leave Korea. |
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siborg69
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:56 am Post subject: |
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| unfortunately im from the UK so wont be claiming the pension back!! im definitely just gonna write down all of this info you guys have given me and take it to work tomorrow cos im not gonna have this |
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siborg69
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 6:06 am Post subject: |
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| that site about tax.....is that for people on E-2 visas as well??? cos i emailed the link to a friend, she says that there should be a section for people on temporary visas, and that the tax rate calculator wont be right for E-2 visa holders....is this right??? |
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