Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gord]

[steelhead]

I know what a receipt is.....but thanks for the info Gord. I am saying, do you think that she would actually issue me a receipt.

All the posters are spot on. How could she be paying taxes?

I appreciate the concern Denver. However, I doubt the principal is in on it. I am sure if he was, they could make a better arrangement than all this hoaky pay schemes. However, I may be a bit optimistic. Assuming that people are still generally good in nature. I would like to thiik that the public education system is still interested in educating.....

Basically, the way I look at it is, is this.....If everything was on the up and up... then why cant those people wh should be getting money, get their money directly? Pay their own taxes etc....?

That was the clincher for me.

[steelhead]

I was concerned about that same situation Gord.

I am 95% sure that I am having the full amount of taxes deducted from the entire payment. Fore example, the school deducts taxes on the full 2.8 million which is put into the account, and then the recruiter calculates what taxes would be paid on 2.0 million, subtracts that amount from the 2mil, and sends me that.

So essentially I am paying taxes on their income as well, and they walk away scott free.

I agree with Hollywoodaction, If everythign was on teh up and up with the OP's situation, why couldnt the manager have all the money transferred into his company's account, then distribute funds from there.
Ill tell you why, because then he would ahve to justify to the tax gods why he was receiving such monies, and then eventually declare his income.

[Gord]

[ontheway]

Here's the problem with the "receipts" idea. The account is in the teacher's name. Cash deposits and cash withdrawals from your own account do not show where the money came from or went to. These withdrawals cannot be used to substantiate that any tax deductible payment was made. It just shows that the teacher took out some cash. Maybe he went on a vacation or to a casino.

Only where the agent controlling the account uses cash transfers would there be any hope of beginning to substantiate a deductible expense. However, there must still be some documentation that the transfered money was in payment of a legitimate business expense. Who is providing all this documentation to the teacher?

All kinds of transfers into and out of the account could occur, all in the name of the foreign teacher ONLY. Imagine depositing bad checks into the account and withdrawing good cash before the checks bounce. The teacher would be 100% liable to the bank for the account deficit. The teacher made a contract with the bank to safeguard his account. He is liable for any abuse of that account. It is not only risk, it is negligent to give your passbook and pin number to a 3rd party under this scheme.

Finally, no one has addressed the situation indicated by the letters from the OP that his Korean co-teachers will be paid out of the foreign teacher's account. This is where the alarm bells go off.

This system stinks. It should be posted on a blacklist based on it's potential for abuse alone. It is too risky.

[ontheway]

Attention Angrycareb:

This post is for you and any other teacher in your position.

If the letter your "employer/agent/whatever" sent to you is factual. That is, if they are indeed paying your Korean coteacher out of the same account, then just ask them to reverse the process. All the money can be paid into an account opened by the Korean teacher, and the KT can monitor all the taxes and legal requirements. Being able to speak Korean and a citizen only makes this logical and resonable for the KT. Then the agent can just transfer your net pay to your own personal account as they planned to do anyway. This account will be under your control only. Let the KT hand his life over to the agent. In addition you should receive monthly documentation of all additions and deductions made to reconcile your gross and net pay under the contract.

If the agent will not do this, you can be sure this is an illegal scheme of some kind. (Well 99.99 % sure )

[jaderedux]

[Gord]

[some waygug-in]

Supposing the manager just withdrew cash (since he has the pin) , where are the "receipts" then? There is no way to trace who the money went to or for what reason.
Supposing he just wants to head off to the local room salon and have a few on the teacher's expense, where are the receipts? This is just bogus.

I can't believe you are supporting this.

[Gord]

[some waygug-in]

OK. I get it.

Sorry.

[Angrycareb]

i met my "English Manager" yesterday after work.

she explained to me that this was the way it was done; parents were made a promise that they would be giving the money to me and not someone; that since the school was new, they didn't have things set up properly yet; that the other teacher agreed to hand over his pin/passbook/card, so why was i also not such a trusting individual; etc., etc.

it just went on and on. i explained that i was not comfortable with anyone using my name to manage a bank account i would not have access to and she proposed this:

open an account at Woori bank, keep everything, then after a few weeks, give her everything. she explained further that based on a previous experience of the dirty foreign teacher having all the things in his possession, he then got "greedy" and ran to Thailand with more dough then he had a right to.

i politely restated my position of, "NO." then she asks if i will open an account at Woori bank in my name and i can keep everything, but once a month i have to show her the passbook so she can confirm the payments made by all the parents, then i get to transfer extra 1.2 million won into the school's (or somebody else's) account.

i told her i was a teacher, damm1t, and not an account. that managing and accounting were her responsibility, not mine.

yes, yes, yes, she said. but would i agree to be responsible for the transfer once a month?

i dunno. (why can't you just pay me???)

if i did agree to this second proposal, she said, the school might need a guarantee in the form of a second contract so i wouldn't just make an excuse for not transfering the cash and run off to Thailand with a cool 3mil. she wanted to know if i'd be willing to sign such a document?

i dunno, i told her. but really, both of these answers are, 'no frackin way!'

she also proposed that i sit down with the principal and her and attempt to find a solution to this dilemma. (i found that interesting and said, 'yes, i'd like very much to have a meeting with the principal about this').

she asked if my last job was a bad experience and if i was still owed money. when i stated that i was in fact owed a large but less than one million sum by the illustrious and infallable W, she told me about how i needed to go to small claims court and get my money and that she could help me with that as she has helped others in the past with similar problems.

i think she was attempting to establish more trust or get me to be dependent on her, but i refused either way, saying i had other friends (without agendas) who could help me.

it seems like i may be in a good position here to continue to refuse and force another solution. there is nothing they can do it seems to convince me to do it their way and i am not bound by any contract to do so, yet they are bound by one which states i must be paid in 20 days.

i like ontheway's suggestion of asking them to reverse the process and have my assistant open an account in her name and give all the access to the English Manager instead. i'll see if she's down for that.

if not, i'll suggest that everything be deposited in the other guy's account and since that would effectively consolidate all the money concerning the program at this particular school into one account, it'll be easier for her to manage and make sure i get paid on time.

whatever happens, i'm sticking to my guns.

[paperbag princess]

i work at a public school with the double bank account situation. i talked to the labour board and it is totally illegal to give someone your bank account, but i haven't had any problems yet.

[Beej]

This is nonsense. Gord is talking about receipts, audits, testimomy, multiple transfers. Why dont schools just pay into the recruiters one account and the recruiter pays his teachers? Because then the recruiter cant hide his money.
Issues of greed and liabilty aside, the recruiters who do this are avoiding taxes and it is best to not get anywhere near this acticvity whether you are laible or not.

[Gord]