Korean Job Discussion Forums

[davochest]

I wondered why my pay was over 120thousand lower than usual this month and here's why....

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2916877

They're gonna have to offer us more money now. This is outrageous.

[Kurtz]

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=178102

[Cerberus]

I fail to see how this would affect most teachers here.

for e.g.

you pay tax on 15% of your total income

total income - 2.2 mil x 12 = 26, 400,000

what would the tax be? around 25% - if so

.15 x 26.4 = 3 960 000

x .25 = 990,000

so basically a million won worth of taxes over the year

83,333 won a month

currently - 3.3%x 2.2 mil - 72, 700

difference of 10K won a month.

BIG DEAL.

unless I'm not understanding something correctly.

now when the 15% clause expires in 2012.. that WILL cause a big rise in the taxes you'll pay.

[egrog1717]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Oliver]

im confused? totally.

[sugarkane59]

If you read it it says from 2012, not this year.

[bigtexas]

I am no math wiz....but a rise from 3 to 15 is HUGE!

[bigtexas]

The govt said this because korean people always freak out when a foreigner has anything better than them......Heaven forbid.....

[Oliver]

can someone explain this in plan english? it's very confusing

[Satchel Paige]

[big_fella1]

Until this year foreigners had a choice pay a flat tax of 17% (+10% of that as residents tax) with no deductions or receive 30% of your income tax free. It was only worth switching to the flat tax rate if you earned more than about w150,000,000 or higher depending on your deductions.

The Korean government has removed the 30% exemption for 2010 and lowered the flat rate to 15%.

Foreigners now have 2 choices:
1) Pay tax like a Korean where a sliding scale is used and deductions are allowed;
2) Switch to a flat rate of 15% but be unable to claim any deductions (only worthwhile if you make more than w100,000,000).

What is 3.3% tax?
This is the tax businesses that use contractors should withhold and remit to the government to help the contractor meet their tax obligations. It is a credit against your tax bill, not tax.

What should happen is your employer/employers should give you a document stating how much you earned and how much tax they withheld (At this point some employers may offer to help you and issue a document that says you earned less and they withheld less.) You should then take this/these document(s) to the tax office in May and they will calculate your liability and give you a refund or a bill.

What usually happens is the employer pockets the 3.3% and doesn't make you aware of the filing obligations. This is no excuse for not filing.

Hope this helps.

[SweetTea]

Someone at work told me that if I go to the bank and fill out a form I can get a tax reduction. But I have to do it by tomorrow and it would only save me like 10 bucks per paycheck.

[Cerberus]

[Cerberus]

I don't think this adds up

according to the S. Korean tax structure:

Tax base of global income
Tax rates

0-10 millions Won
8%

10-40 million Won
0.8 million Won + 17% of the amount exceeding 10 million Won

40-80 million Won
5.9 million Won + 26% of the amount exceeding 40 million Won

over 80 million Won
16.3 million Won + 35% of the amount exceeding 80 million Won

so.. let's take an average 2.2 mil a month salary

26.4 million on annually.

.8 million + (.17x16.4) = .8 + 2.79 = 3.59 mil won annually

divided by 12 = basically 300,000 won a month.

which teacher here is paying 300K won a month in taxes?