Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fustiancorduroy]

This year my employer asked me if I'd like to file for a Korean tax return. Yes, of course I said. So I was given a form to fill out regarding my spending for the year. Apparently if I had a Korean a credit card and a 현금영수증, I would have been eligible for a return. There may be other possibilities as well (getting a return on your rent, for example). Does anyone know how I can go about getting a return for this year, and hopefully last year as well?

[Tobias]

Let me make the leap and simply assume you're from the USA....

You're talking about a refund, or rebate, depending on your situation. If you're in your exemption period, it depends on whether or not you've had taxes withheld in the first place. I know of those rebates you're talking about, and there is one other: the gas rebate. But if you're not paying taxes to begin with, there will be no rebate for you. I don't think you'll be able to get these rebates if you're in your exemption period and have had taxes withheld. This is because your entire withholding amount will be your rebate, and you (only) get that by (supposedly) jumping through a hoop called form 6166. This is the 'proof of residency' form you get after requesting it by submitting IRS form 8802.

Some of us who are exempt have asked about these rebates, such as the gas rebate, and have discovered we're not eligible. However, we're also discovering that we won't be eligible for a complete refund without form 6166. If we don't produce it, we're actually worse off than those who must pay taxes. We won't get the refund and we won't qualify for the rebates. My colleague at my digs recently got a gas rebate of like 240K. She's a taxpayer, however.