Korean Job Discussion Forums

[losing_touch]

Well, I guess I have been part of a problem rather than the solution. Let me put this into perspective. I work for a hagwon down here in the south. Everything is great. My working conditions are awesome. My director is super cool. The other foreign teachers are cool. The Korean teachers rock. On the surface, the job is perfect .....

There are a few pieces of the equation that don't match up though. They are the things that are often posted about on this very board. They are things that I knew about. While I have known about them, I have done little to rectify the situation because it was working out to my advantage financially to let them slide. Times have changed, and it is clear that something must be done. I am 4.5 months in. I don't want to make any waves just yet. Here is my laundry list:

Pension - The person I replaced was British, so he could care less about pension. My director doesn't know how to handle it so well, so she just let it slide. Perhaps she wanted to get out of paying her 4.5%, but I would like to give her the benefit of the doubt. When you read on, you will see why I have a difficult time doing this.

The other teachers at my hagwon get pension. The pension office contacted my director when they hit the 4 month mark and forced her to participate in the scheme. Now that I have hit that mark, they have contacted her about me as well.

Since I am now being signed up for this, am I responsible for the last 4 months when I wasn't paying into the system. I am ok with paying my chunk, but I want to be able to clarify this with my director intelligibly.

I was planning to go after this when my contract finished.

Health Care - I have my own health insurance, so I let my director slide on this. Instead, she gave me the cash she would contribute. I took the money. Now that pension has gotten on her case, I must be enrolled. Alright, I can deal with that.

My question about health is something else entirely. Do you know if dependents (i.e. spouse) are covered? My director insists that I cannot cover my wife.

TAX - THIS IS MOST PRESSING. The other teachers and I are being taxed at 6%. How do I handle this. Again, I was going to wait until the 6 month mark before bringing this up. Can I make an anonymous call to the tax folks? Do I need to reveal personal details?

Thanks for your thoughts ..... Again, I really like my hagwon, but given the current state of things, I better sort out the shady spots.

[Xuanzang]

Yeah the KHIS includes spouse and children.

[losing_touch]

[moosehead]

K insurance starts the day you entered K so they will backtrack and prorate you and deduct all the past months' payment from your first payment made - it's gonna be a chunk so be prepared.

Pension might do the same thing, don't know, bet so.

[ontheway]

Sounds like you have a wonderful job that you love. That's great.

Of course, they've been cheating you blind on taxes and pension, so, uh, not so good.

Your taxes should be according to the National Tax Service monthly withholding calculator. (Maybe someone can post a link to this, the old links I've found don't seem to work anymore.) Anyway, for most E2 teachers that will be around 2%, up to 3% for higher salaries. Of course, if you make the big bucks, it goes up to 36%. But, the last time I checked, you had to go over 3 million per month to pay 5%. Since you have dependents, your rate would be even lower. Maybe even 0%.

You will probably have to pay into pension and health insurance retroactively, to your first full month, possibly your very first day. You have to pay according to your monthly salary: even if you only worked one day, you pay for the full month of both pension and National Health Insurance. However, the administrators have started to allow workers and employers to pay from the first day of the first full calendar month of employment in some cases.


Good luck. Since your school is so nice, you'll have to stand up to them politely but firmly. But, don't let them keep screwing you. Pickpockets are often very friendly.

[Tobias]

Ahh, another 'exempt' one who is paying taxes here. You do know you're exempt from paying taxes your first two years, I assume. But that doesn't mean some of us will still have taxes deducted. I'm in that boat.

My advice to you is download the IRS form 8802, complete it, and send it off for the IRS form 6166. You will need the 6166 in order to get the refund you're due later from the Korean tax office. And they're gonna want that form, or you can kiss your tax withholdings goodbye. Some outfits in Korea will withhold taxes from your salary no matter your status, and the tax office will keep that money if you don't come up with the 6166. The 6166 costs 35 bucks, but you can get up to 20 copies for that price. The 35 bucks is a processing fee.

I sent off for my 6166 about 5 weeks ago. I should be getting that soon. I assume that when I get it, I can get my refund immediately and won't have to wait several weeks or even several months to get what is MINE. But that could be a grotesque assumption. Stay tuned.

[losing_touch]

[ontheway]

RE: the two-year tax exemption thing:

That does not apply to hogwan teachers. For public school teachers, from some countries, you may be exempt from paying Korean Income taxes for two years.

Home country taxes depend on where you're from.


OP. Thanks for the kind words.

Sometimes people who are cheating you are really nice people who don't think of themselves as dishonest. If you are polite and treat the whole thing as some confusing mistake or misunderstanding, they may rectify and resolve the little problem without a big battle. You let them "save face." If you go in guns blazing, they may become defensive and try to fight you just because their feelings were hurt.

Other posters here have had the unfortunate experience of being worked over by real pros who need to be taken out and, uh .... (now we can each imagine all those wonderful things we'd like to do to that owner who screwed us over.)


Anyway, good luck. You need to check your income tax withholding on the NTS site.

Try this link:

http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/

click on: Automatic Calculation Service

then look for: Check your monthly withholding tax


Or try this direct link:

http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/help/help_52.asp?top_code=H001&sub_code=HS05&ssub_code=HSE2

[moosehead]

[yingwenlaoshi]

I'm actually surprised that the health and pension offices contacted your boss. At my first job, I think they, or one of them, contacted my employer by mail. Or maybe everyone gets correspondence from these offices if they're properly registered. Or maybe my boss was thinking he could deduct pension (since health became mandatory after) and wait and see if I would notice him not paying into it. It's a "might as well try" kind of deal because they can feign ignorance after and start making payments after you check with said offices and keep all correspondence with them through the hagwon instead of with you (which is not right).

Hagwons can easily get away with not paying pension and health without said offices knowing a thing. You boss can most likely get away with making back payments (retroactive) simply by lying to these offices about your start date. Maybe they check more thoroughly nowadays, but I doubt it. It's a "what they don't know, and they probably won't know, won't hurt me" dealie. Then it's up to you to cry to your boss and/or these offices to get what you want. Pension can easily be scammed, but it's quite obvious you're being scammed with health if your health booklet doesn't arrive within your first two or three months of working. These offices, however, can be contacted by telephone quite easily and you can check your account, or if you have an account, with your alien card number. I don't have their phone numbers handy, but they can be found through a search on this site (or start a thread).

If you start making pension and health payments, check with these offices after to make sure your and your employer's contributions have been forwarded/remitted.

6% tax is way too high. They may or may not be remitting taxes. I think hagwons have the option of remitting taxes once a month or once every six months. Or, this being Korea, not remitting them at all. Anyway, your employer is not violating any rules or laws by taking out 6% in taxes, BUT this is an unusually high rate. Your year-end tax on your type of salary would probably be around 3%, but much, much less if you're paying into deductibles such as pension and health. Your employer can deduct 6% in taxes and then you could file your taxes and get a return. This, however, proves to be inconvenient for most people. The tax office would probably tell your employer to tax you at the lowest rate which is, like someone already said, somewhere between 2 or 3%. Even with this low of a rate, you stand to get a return if you file taxes.

It's a shame, but you're going to have to tell your employer that you're being taxes too high. If you don't have pension or health, get her to lower your taxes to 3 or 3.3%. If you do pay into pension and health, get her to tax you according to the lower tax rate on NTS's website.

6% is way too high. Ask your co-workers if they've checked with the pension office to make sure their and your boss's contributions have been made. All it takes is a phone call. If they've received their health booklets, that proves that health contributions have been forwarded. Careful though, it's possible for the boss to under-report income to the health office. You'd still be getting the same health benefits, but your boss could be pinching pennies. Same with pension. That's why they should be called a month or two after you've started making payments. It's good to keep in mind that your boss can receive bills from these offices and wait for a month or two or maybe three to pay these bills. Your boss can keep correspondence with these offices hidden from you. In fact, if you want, you could probably demand that you get correspondence from these offices sent by mail to your address. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to. I never did that, but I think it would be a good idea.

But I digress. When you have to ask your boss about this and that, you end up the bad guy and untrusting and untrustworthy and a problem worker. Sucks, eh? But who knows? Take care of it with one clean swoop and all could be forgotten after all has been taken care of. Everything can seem fine and dandy at work, but...

[losing_touch]

My link for the tax site wasn't working either. After looking for what seemed like an eternity, I have found it:

http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/help/help_52.asp?top_code=H001&sub_code=HS05&ssub_code=HSE2

2,300,000 per month should be taxed at 39,630 with my wife as a dependent. Doing some quick math, that is about 1.7%. Where does the other 4.3% go? That is damn near 100,000 won that is vanishing in thin air!

I have read that medical should be something like 2.54%. That should be around 60,000 won.

Pension should be 4.5%. That would come to about 100,000 won. So, if I get this tax sorted out, it should cover my pension payments.

Is my math right here?

[yingwenlaoshi]

[losing_touch]

[losing_touch]

In case someone is reading this and finds themselves in the same situation, here are the numbers:

NTS (Tax) - 02-397-1440

Pension - 1355

Health - 02-390-2000

[Tobias]

Thanks for the phone numbers. I'll definitely need to call two of those three. I need to find out if I can get my tax withholdings back without the 6166 if I go through the Seoul tax office. It's a stretch, but you never know. I'm about to say 'wiedersehen' and don't want to have to wait an extra week on my 6166 to arrive.