Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gabrie30]

My base pay is 2,600,000 won/month

National Saving: 117,000
Medical Insurance: 73,320
Unemployment Insurance: 14,300
Income tax: 57,000
Resident tax: 5,780
Long-term care insurance: 4,800

Total: 273,000

Is this typical? When I hear of getting a tax return should I be expecting to get the income/resident tax back at the end of the year?

[hogwonguy1979]

the unemployment insurance and long term care insurance sound somewhat fishy. are you being considered an independent contractor?

[Njord]

If you are a foreigner, you should not be paying unemployment insurance either.

[Ice Tea]

What isn't typical is how much money you're making for someone who doesn't know anything Korea. How did you manage 2.6 as a newbie. Are you getting housing or not?

[thegadfly]

http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/help/help_56.asp?top_code=H001&sub_code=HS05&ssub_code=HSE4

That is a calculator to see your monthly withholding taxes -- your rate is a scoche under what the calculator says for 2.6 million, but it is certainly close enough to think it on the up-and-up.

The unemployment and long-term care insurance are not things that I pay -- you may want to ask what they cover and if you should be paying them -- it could be a simple mistake (as in, the Korean teachers pay those things, but you may not need to, and they calculated everyone's withholding the same way).

If the long-term care DOES cover foreigners, I would say it is definitely worth 5k a month -- one of my co-workers got hit by a bongo truck while jogging, and spent two solid months in a hospital. Another of my friends had cancer -- additional insurance would be helpful in those situations, and well worth 5k a month, IF you could be covered....