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methdxman
Joined: 14 Sep 2010
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 Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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| LOL can't wait till you guys go into the real world and start getting taxed at normal rates... |
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ssuprnova
Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Location: Saigon
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| Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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| ontheway wrote: |
Pension is not actually 4.5%. It's 4.5% for the midpoint of a bracket based on your reported income. If you are not in the middle of a bracket your pension could be more or less than 4.5%. In any case, the pension office will set your pension amount and this amount is fixed monthly and does not vary even if you have overtime or other amounts paid to you. If you stay with the same employer, they will then adjust your rate for the next year based on actual numbers from the current year. You should be able to check with the pension office or see the actual bill.
You should NOT be paying unemployment insurance if you are on an E2 visa. That one you should ask to your employer to stop. I'm not sure if your employer can get refunds for the amounts they have already paid.
Your income tax should be according to the NTS monthly withholding calculator. |
Thanks Ontheway.
Just to make sure: 1) my pension contribution should not fluctuate from month to month even if I get paid for extra work, but 2) my income tax should fluctuate according to how much I'm getting paid on a given month? |
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RMNC
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Yes, exactly. Pension rate has nothing to do with the income tax rate. |
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ankhetbast
Joined: 24 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:03 am Post subject: |
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I am currently in the process of applying to various positions. As of yet, only one position had the proper tax rate.
I have had a recruiter tell me that I would get a tax refund at the end of the year, but they would definitely be paying into my health insurance and pension (of course emphasizing this). I have had another recruiter tell me that the school called the tax office, and that 3.3% is the correct rate, and that they have only seen contracts which had that rate. A third recruiter told me that I must be confused, but that she would check with the schools (she hasn't gotten back to me yet).
I'm sticking to my guns on the matter. It really does seem that the vast majority of employers are doing this at this point. I have to think that the only way that this will change is if, en masse, we don't let them. This holds particularly true for the category which I fall under... Inexperienced, new teachers, coming to Korea for the first time. |
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duke of new york
Joined: 23 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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If you look at the spreadsheet on that link, the numbers do not match up with the numbers you get if you type your salary into that calculator. Also, the table is for income on or after 1/1/2009, but when you use the tool to calculate your monthly withheld taxes, the fine print says that it is based on the 2007 tax table. So, I think the tool is actually outdated. If that's the case, make sure you are referring to the spreadsheet, not the tool.
Unless the "2007 tax table" refers to the table that took effect in 2008, in which case, why are the numbers totally different? |
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EZE
Joined: 05 May 2012
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| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 6:51 am Post subject: |
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My boss is doing the independent contractor scam on me even though my contract refers to me as an employee 25 times and an independent contractor zero times.
I'm waiting until my 12th month to report my boss to the tax office and pension office, so I won't get jacked out of my airfare home and severance pay. Will I get any of the tax refunded?
Also, do many hagwons use the IC scam to get out of paying severance or airfare? |
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EZE
Joined: 05 May 2012
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| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 6:59 am Post subject: |
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| ankhetbast wrote: |
| It really does seem that the vast majority of employers are doing this at this point. I have to think that the only way that this will change is if, en masse, we don't let them. |
When my contract is ending and my boss asks what airport I'm flying to, my answer will be airport code IAD, Washington DC. I will be renting an apartment there so I can go to the Korean embassy and protest the South Korean educational system's tax fraud, pension fraud, health insurance fraud, sexual improprieties and blackmail against foreign educators. Hopefully it will at least draw the Korean governments attention to the matter. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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| EZE wrote: |
| ankhetbast wrote: |
| It really does seem that the vast majority of employers are doing this at this point. I have to think that the only way that this will change is if, en masse, we don't let them. |
When my contract is ending and my boss asks what airport I'm flying to, my answer will be airport code IAD, Washington DC. I will be renting an apartment there so I can go to the Korean embassy and protest the South Korean educational system's tax fraud, pension fraud, health insurance fraud, sexual improprieties and blackmail against foreign educators. Hopefully it will at least draw the Korean governments attention to the matter. |
Good luck with that. One hopes you have solid documented evidence of all these improprieties otherwise you will just be dismissed out of hand. |
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EZE
Joined: 05 May 2012
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| Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Good luck with that. One hopes you have solid documented evidence of all these improprieties otherwise you will just be dismissed out of hand. |
I don't plan on standing there empty-handed. My documentation so far includes:
- Utility bills received in September 2011 for utilities from May 2011 even though my contract and work visa both prove I didn't move in until late August.
- Pay stubs showing money taken out of my paychecks for utilities along with hard copies of utility bills proving my boss was embezzling the money instead of paying the bills, resulting in monthly late fees along with the cutoff of my utilities, causing me to leave my job and return to the States. After all, who wants to live in an apartment without utilities and who wants to go pay the bill after the boss has already taken the money out of your pay?
- Pay stubs showing taxes taken out of my pay at my previous school and my the first two months at my current school, before she stop providing pay stubs, that are vastly higher than the amount indicated on the Korean government's tax calculator.
- Zero money in pension even though it has been Korean law at both schools and in my work contract at my current school.
- I didn't have health insurance at my previous school and didn't get it at my current school until March 2013 even though I started work in August of 2012. It's in my current work contract, but I didn't know I was frauded until I went to the doctor in February and he said I didn't have it at all.
- My pay stubs, contract, and bank book proving my previous boss at Wonderland outright frauded me out of 1,896,500 won of my compensation before a co-worker and I who was experiencing the same frauds both gave up and quit.
- My current boss will no longer provide pay stubs, but my contract and bank book prove fraudulent math in the ridiculously low net pay.
So I have a pretty tall mountain of evidence regarding tax fraud, pension fraud, health insurance fraud, as well as compensation theft. Fortunately, I haven't personally experienced sexual improprieties. However, I will print out this blog http://monkeysandmountains.com/getting-deported about Korean Immigration offering the illegal foreign teacher an option of having sex with her boss to get out of her legal troubles. In addition to how wrong this is to begin with, it ties in to a problem I have with Korean Immigration and a hagwon boss. I get detained at Incheon International Airport when I travel through there because my previous boss at Wonderland reported me for not paying unemployment insurance, which isn't even something E-2 visa holders are even required to pay anyway. So the Immigration/hawon tag team harrassment, sexual and otherwise, is certainly something I want to protest along with the financial fraud of foreign educators that is ubiquitous in the South Korean educational system.
I will arrive well-organized with everything condensed into a concise presentation with my contracts, color copies of my bills, pay stubs, bank books, the NTS calculator showing what is supposed to be taken out of my pay at my rate versus what is taken out, etc. If they want to ignore me, fine, but this is something I very much want to do regardless of what they think. |
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tophatcat
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Location: under the hat
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| Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:19 am Post subject: |
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| EZE wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Good luck with that. One hopes you have solid documented evidence of all these improprieties otherwise you will just be dismissed out of hand. |
I don't plan on standing there empty-handed. My documentation so far includes:
- Utility bills received in September 2011 for utilities from May 2011 even though my contract and work visa both prove I didn't move in until late August.
- Pay stubs showing money taken out of my paychecks for utilities along with hard copies of utility bills proving my boss was embezzling the money instead of paying the bills, resulting in monthly late fees along with the cutoff of my utilities, causing me to leave my job and return to the States. After all, who wants to live in an apartment without utilities and who wants to go pay the bill after the boss has already taken the money out of your pay?
- Pay stubs showing taxes taken out of my pay at my previous school and my the first two months at my current school, before she stop providing pay stubs, that are vastly higher than the amount indicated on the Korean government's tax calculator.
- Zero money in pension even though it has been Korean law at both schools and in my work contract at my current school.
- I didn't have health insurance at my previous school and didn't get it at my current school until March 2013 even though I started work in August of 2012. It's in my current work contract, but I didn't know I was frauded until I went to the doctor in February and he said I didn't have it at all.
- My pay stubs, contract, and bank book proving my previous boss at Wonderland outright frauded me out of 1,896,500 won of my compensation before a co-worker and I who was experiencing the same frauds both gave up and quit.
- My current boss will no longer provide pay stubs, but my contract and bank book prove fraudulent math in the ridiculously low net pay.
So I have a pretty tall mountain of evidence regarding tax fraud, pension fraud, health insurance fraud, as well as compensation theft. Fortunately, I haven't personally experienced sexual improprieties. However, I will print out this blog http://monkeysandmountains.com/getting-deported about Korean Immigration offering the illegal foreign teacher an option of having sex with her boss to get out of her legal troubles. In addition to how wrong this is to begin with, it ties in to a problem I have with Korean Immigration and a hagwon boss. I get detained at Incheon International Airport when I travel through there because my previous boss at Wonderland reported me for not paying unemployment insurance, which isn't even something E-2 visa holders are even required to pay anyway. So the Immigration/hawon tag team harrassment, sexual and otherwise, is certainly something I want to protest along with the financial fraud of foreign educators that is ubiquitous in the South Korean educational system.
I will arrive well-organized with everything condensed into a concise presentation with my contracts, color copies of my bills, pay stubs, bank books, the NTS calculator showing what is supposed to be taken out of my pay at my rate versus what is taken out, etc. If they want to ignore me, fine, but this is something I very much want to do regardless of what they think. |
I think the US Embassy website warns people about taking jobs at these academies in Korea. Or, I could be mistaken. |
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Wildbore
Joined: 17 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 9:56 am Post subject: |
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As far as I'm aware there are no "brackets" for pension. If there are I'd liket to see the source for this. I've received alot of documentation from the pension office, all of them state that is a flat 4.5% for employees, 9% for the self-employed, for reported income.
The only exceptions I have seen are when part of the payment is made up of subsidies for rural and seasonal workers, and some other professions, as stated in the national pension act. |
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big_fella1
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Wildbore wrote: |
As far as I'm aware there are no "brackets" for pension. If there are I'd liket to see the source for this. I've received alot of documentation from the pension office, all of them state that is a flat 4.5% for employees, 9% for the self-employed, for reported income.
The only exceptions I have seen are when part of the payment is made up of subsidies for rural and seasonal workers, and some other professions, as stated in the national pension act. |
I thought that you only had to pay pension on your first 3 million won of monthly income. |
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EZE
Joined: 05 May 2012
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| Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:08 am Post subject: |
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| tophatcat wrote: |
| I think the US Embassy website warns people about taking jobs at these academies in Korea. Or, I could be mistaken. |
True, but I'm talking about the South Korean embassy. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:15 am Post subject: |
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| big_fella1 wrote: |
| Wildbore wrote: |
As far as I'm aware there are no "brackets" for pension. If there are I'd liket to see the source for this. I've received alot of documentation from the pension office, all of them state that is a flat 4.5% for employees, 9% for the self-employed, for reported income.
The only exceptions I have seen are when part of the payment is made up of subsidies for rural and seasonal workers, and some other professions, as stated in the national pension act. |
I thought that you only had to pay pension on your first 3 million won of monthly income. |
Reported monthly salaries from 230,000 to 3,750,000 are subject to the Pension Tax according to the most recent info I've seen.
The use of brackets is a form of rounding off so that the full monthly payment for each worker (whether split 50/50 or a 100% self pay) will be whole thousand won units (always ending in three zeros). So, for nearly all E2 teachers there is no effect (when your pay is exactly 2mil or 2.1 mil, for example). But if your reported monthly base salary is some odd amount, they will use the brackets or "round down" to all zeros for your monthly contribution level. This makes it possible for your Pension deduction payment to come out at some slightly odd percentage, such as 4.47 % instead of 4.50 %.
There was a table showing the brackets on line somewhere some years ago. I don't know where and it doesn't matter. The employer should submit the correct monthly base salary to the Pension office. They calculate the amount and send a monthly bill.
After your first year there are other possible adjustments to the percentage rate that the Pension office can make. Also, if you get a raise during the year, the Pension office is very reluctant to change the monthly billing amount. They will usually refuse requests to adjust the payment for a pay raise until it is convenient for them or during the annual review period. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| EZE wrote: |
| tophatcat wrote: |
| I think the US Embassy website warns people about taking jobs at these academies in Korea. Or, I could be mistaken. |
True, but I'm talking about the South Korean embassy. |
Even if they do take you seriously...what do you think they are going to do?
They'll simply tell you to deal with the relevant authorities. They have no jurisdiction over domestic tax, utility bills and the like.
They are certainly not going to take the time out of their day to investigate a thing. They couldn't even if they wanted to since none of your allegations have anything to do with an Embassy staff's job. |
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