Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwiluvesyew]

This was on another thread, but I'm making it a new post since it involves much more than the topic implies.

I've been teaching here since August 4th, and I JUST got my ARC card.

WTF? My school is currently fucking up: (I make 2.4 mil a month)

Pension (taking out 103,500 when it should be 108,000 at 4.5% this means THEY are paying less - if they are even paying it- and I will get less back at the end of the year)

Medical Insurance (taking out 58,420 when it should be 53,760 at 2.24% -- 4660 too much for one month) and we still haven't gotten our insurance card although they said they set it up on Oct.1st.

Taxes (contract says 3.3%, which should be 79,200 w, but they are only taking out 44,290 on one line and 4,420 on another for a total of 48,710)

"Unemployment tax" (2,360 that a foreigner on an E-2 SHOULD be exempt from)

I'm guessing since they got very upset when we wanted to pay the landlady the maintenance fee ourselves, and since everything else is wrong, that it is wrong as well. 30,000 won/month. I don't think we'll ever get a statement from them for it, they hate us too much. We wanted to write the landlady a note asking how much it is, but when we asked a Korean teacher to write "what is our maintenance fee?" she had no idea what it was. Any idea what it is in Korean?

What can I DO? We've talked with the school about all of these things and they're getting pissed that we're "complaining" and do nothing about it.

[wylies99]

Sounds like a typical hagwon hose job. BTW, if you are paying 3.3% tax rate, you're being listed as an "independent contractor" and your pension and health insurance deductions are likely being pocketed by your boss. You can call the health insurance and pension offices to verify this.

BTW, were you working without a visa during any of that time?

[kiwiluvesyew]

No, had the VISA the whole time. I can't find a number or e-mail anywhere for health insurance.

Any help?

[SHANE02]

OP....are you a kiwi? I'm looking at your username. Kiwis can't get pension refunds.

[kiwiluvesyew]

no. i'm an amurican.

[Draz]

[esetters21]

Welcome to Korea and working in a hagwon. Oh the fond memories I have of that. I think that it is great that you are rocking the boat so much. I don't think you will get too much accomplished, but keep up the fight. Even if you get everything worked out to your favor, your job will be hell if you continue to work there. Good luck!

It sounds like you have already been labeled as a malcontent. I am giving you forewarning that your job will suck in the worst way possible if you continue to badger them. Get out while you can.

[3baekwon]

I can't offer you any advice on the tax and pension - I've never had any problems in these areas.

However you caught my eye when you started talking about "maintenance fees" or "관리비" in Korean. If you are living in an actual apartment COMPLEX, you don't need the landlady - you can just ask the security guards or the main office there. That fee isn't paid directly to the landlady anyway. If you don't live in a complex, but instead are living in a "villa" then I believe that you should not have any maintenance fees. There is a monthly fee for villa type places that is called "물세" but it isn't a set amount. It changes a bit every month. It shouldn't be more than 20,000 at its highest - rarely. Some months, I paid as little as 6,000. Again, it wouldn't be paid to the landlady. There should be one person living there who calculates how much each family owes and then goes around to everyone in the building collecting it. I believe that money then is delivered to the local dong office.

Hope this helps.... Maybe some other posters can chime in with additional information from their experiences.

[esetters21]

[yingwenlaoshi]

Your pension should be 108,900/month. It doesn't work out to exactly 108,000. It's a little more. Your share of health should be 2.54% (5.08% in total). That's 60,960. At any rate, the numbers are way off.

You're paying too much in income tax, but I guess they could charge you that and you'd get a refund at the end of the year. Only problem is that your boss is probably not remitting your taxes. And yes, you should check with the pension and tax offices to make sure he's remitting money to them. I used to have a number for pension, but I think that's since changed. I could dig up the health office number for you and post it on this thread later along with a pension number where they could at least point you in the right direction. 3.3% for taxes is too high. That's probably around what they would be if you weren't paying into health and pension since those are deductibles. When I was making 2.4 million a few years back, I was deducted 58,800 per month, but it probably should've been more according to what they had listed from the automatic calculator on the tax office's web site since there is also a resident tax that's 10% of your income tax. So I should've been paying 5,880 more. But my boss probably wasn't remitting the taxes or doing something strange with them. I've never checked, but will be filing taxes for all my work in Korea within the next year.

I had to battle with my boss a bit to get my taxes reduced at my first job in Korea almost 4 years ago. He was charging, as per the contract, 3.7%. I was able to get him to reduce them to around 2% which kept going up with my raises. Even when getting charged this little amount, and paying pension and health on top of that and therefor being able to use these as deductibles, a return is most likely coming to me if I do my taxes. I think you can claim 30% of your gross salary as tax-free. So 3.3% is way too high. ttompatz has said lately that 30% of your income is tax-free after your first year of work in Korea. Maybe if you work a full year, and do your taxes, then what you made is 30% tax-free when you file.

Anyway, the pension and health amounts I stated above are correct. You should be paying less tax, too. There's an online tax calculator that you can show your boss. I can't find that site at the moment. Maybe someone can chime in.

I'll get back to you on the pension and health office numbers and the tax office's web site.

[Tommy]

Are you the same guy who is being charged the maintenance fee of $30 x 2 because you're a couple, when the previous employee was only being charged $30? Sounds like you're in a sh!tty situation, and your boss is an ass.

In short, go to the appropriate offices (tax, pension, health) and see if your employer has been paying into these. I believe you can check with your ARC number. Check to see how much is going toward what for each month, and then compare that with your pay-stub. If they don't match up, bring them to your boss and say, "I'm confused..."

Before you go "snooping" around, be sure to let your boss know what you're about to do.. say something like, "We're confused about the amounts we're being taxed. We're going to go to the tax office to see if they can help us." If boss is adamant about you not going, then he might be trying to hide something.. ask him when a good time would be to go and give him a week or two. Give him time to let him fix his "mistakes".
Otherwise, if he is doing something wrong, he might get a knock on the door and a fine from the tax office. Expect to get fired for something like this.

As for your maintenance fee, ask a competent Korean friend to talk to your landlady (via phone even), and tell her to put your maintenance fee bill in your mailbox. Pay her in cash and get a receipt with her sig and stamp on the bill. Take this to your boss and show him.. now he no longer needs to take this out of your pay.
I think in another post you were talking saying the boss pays for phone, internet, tv.. and he deducts from your pay? Well cancel all that sh!t and set it up yourself.

Best advice - get out. This guy sounds like a dishonest d!ck, and it's not beneficial to you to try and question and fight him.. it'll only make matters worse as someone else mentioned. Get out, get a LOR (do we still need these?), and get a new job.