Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thegadfly]

Not to defend the hakwon owner, but...did you ask about a tax refund at the end of the year? I mean, if he IS paying the taxes, rather than just pocketing it, then you would simply get it back at the end of the year in the form of a refund, so you won't actually be losing any money, other than the opportunity cost of not having the cash earlier, and any interest you may have earned.

If overtime is available at your school, you are supposed to be taxed on the additional income that the overtime provides, but in my experience, even when earning overtime, only the "basic" tax rate was charged -- a result of lazy accounting practices. Then, when tax time rolls around, and your whole income is calculated, it would be possible to OWE taxes, rather than getting a refund -- that is what happened to me in 2010.

Taking out more than that in taxes COULD be a way to cover that possibility, so long as YOU get the refund at the end of the year. Before quitting or filing a complaint, I would check with the boss and let him know that you will be expecting a tax refund -- you can even figure out how much of a refund it should be, based on what you earn and what you pay:

http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/help/help_53.asp?top_code=H001&sub_code=HS05&ssub_code=HSE3#none

If he says that the refund would come to you, then I wouldn't make TOO much of a big deal out of it -- think of it as mandatory savings account deposits, without interest

Honestly, I would have preferred paying a bit more on my taxes and getting a refund to the case where I ended up having to pay in at tax time to make up for my previously-untaxed overtime. That's just me, of course -- other folks prefer their money up front, and will pay when they are told they owe....

[The Floating World]

My last boss, when it came to severence time said 'Uh you must pay tax out of severence. 10% okay? I thought she meant 10% on the 2.3mil which whilst high, I agreed to just to get my hands on the 2.070 asap and then question it afterwards.

Turns out she meant 10% out of my severence based on 10% of my whole year's salary. Claims she hadn't paid tax all year. So she wanted to not pay me severence essentially as 10% of my yearly salary is around 2.3mil.

I bs'd her and told her my tax rate was 3.5% so she took out 950k. I'll be calling the tax office soon (will wait until 10th for last month's salary first b4 rocking the boat) to see if she was bs'ing or not....

If she is trying to steal for me, I'll go labor board. Either I get the money back if she is bs'ing slowly but surely or when I leave Korea in 11 months time and she thinks it's all water under the bridge, boy is she going to find a nasty surprise when she goes into work the day after I leave Korea...

[ontheway]

[ontheway]

[LAtoSeoul]

When you say that Koreans are shady or whatever. Just remember all of things that Americans have done. Child labor around the world. Businessmen promised Thais or filipinos a better life and basically made them slaves. I would say its because of money and money creates greed no matter where you are. I wouldn't say he's a good person, but he's a businessman and they are as bad as they are in America and around the world. Never sign a contract before you read it and never sign a hagwon job unless you have talked to a past teacher.

[Mr Lee's Monkey]

I signed a contract that contained health care and pension, but it hasn't materialized after three months. I talked to the teacher I replaced at length and the extent to which he lied and ommitted critical facts and details is probably directly proportionate to how badly he wanted out of the position. crapshoot

[some waygug-in]

The key is talk to a past teacher who has already left so you know that they are not under any pressure from the boss.

[morningsoju]

yea, i agree with LAtoSeoul. greed is everywhere. the ridiculous financial crisis basically stemmed from greedy a*holes on wall street.

but wow. that director is crook. how could he have face with you after you brought it to light and then he ADMITTED to cheating you!?