Korean Job Discussion Forums

[shamash]

My contract says 3.5% will be taken out for taxes, but this website:

http://www.korea4expats.com/article-income-taxes.html

seems to think I'll owe 16% on income taxes. I'm not quite sure which it would be?

[shamash]

Also, I've tried those 'tax calculators' I found on the search but I'm not sure if it wants my monthly or yearly salary. The yearly salary gives me a MUCH HIGHER tax than my monthly salary does.. (2.2m)

[Porksta]

I don't know what that website is referring to, but you should only have about 1.4% or so taken out for income tax. Maybe they meant 1.6 instead of 16?

[ttompatz]

[JustinC]

Just checked my payslip; total deductions including health insurance, pension etc is about 8%.

[korea.teacher]

Check your contract to see if you are listed as a subcontractor, 3.3%, or not, in which case your tax will average between 1 - 2%.

The National Tax Service calculator is easy to use. Just plug in your monthly base salary and it will show you your monthly deduction.

http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/help/help_52.asp?top_code=H001&sub_code=HS05&ssub_code=HSE2

I had an academy try to deduct 5% until I printed out my deduction using the automatic calculator and showed them in the contract that I wasn't a subcontractor.

My recruiter told me excessive tax deductions are a common business practice among hagwons who use the extra money for business expenses.

The dishonest hagwons all use the same standard dishonest business playbook when it comes to deductions and try to take advantage of teachers' ignorance regarding the rules. They're also very good actors at feigning innocence.

Note: if you have difficulty getting your tax refund from your school when you finish your contract, file a petition with a local labor office and provide them with your annual income statement and deductions. I did recently and my hagwon paid up.