Korean Job Discussion Forums

[paperbag princess]

if you found out that your recruiter was doing some serious tax fraud, would you report him/her?

if you are working at a public school and your "manager" has access to your bank account and you don't, then what you are doing is illegal.

the korean gov't thinks i made 35 million won last year and i made 15 million, my recruiter made the difference. that means that my recruiter made 20 million won off me and probably off all the other teachers she had working for her. she isn't paying taxes on that money either, she told me herself...

so should i report it or not? does anyone else have any similar experiences. if you aren't comfortable posting, please pm me.

thanks.

[jinju]

Why is this even a debate? Report them and get them in trouble. They are cheating the government but more importantly, they are cheating YOU. Why would you want to protect such people?

[paperbag princess]

given the way that foreigners are treated in korea, i don't want to be considered complacent in this crime. i have heard of english teachers being deported for things that their bosses have done. i have a new job and am happy at it and don't want to risk being deported.

[paperbag princess]

[gypsyfish]

[bellum99]

The funny thing is that you seem actually outraged .
There is not a single company in Korea that doesn't commit tax fraud. I mean every single business. You reporting them is a joke (more funny because you seem to think it is important). Report away my good man, report away...

Everyone here seems to think Koreans are stupid...they are not. Just because you don't see the purpose of what they are doing, doesn't mean there isn't a purpose.

[mindmetoo]

In North America, if you work for a temp agency, they contract you out. You get paid, say, $20 an hour and the agency bills the company $40 an hour. They collect the $40 and give you $20. Of course, for income tax purposes, your T slip or whatever they call it in the USA reports your $20 an hour income.

Anyway, are you sure you're not working for your recruiter and being billed to the school at the agency rate?

[paperbag princess]

i got my tax forms from the school. the school thinks they paid me that money. the recruiter makes you open a bank account in your name and then controls it. i beleive that the school actually doesn't know about what the recruiter is doing.

[maddog]

If the gov't thinks you earned 35M, then surely YOU paid tax on 35M, even though you earned less than half that. In other words, you paid your recruiter a tax free salary of 20M. No disrespect, but why are you earning as little as 15M? I am reading it wrong? Anyway, report the fcuker.

I made the mistake of working without a visa. My employer stalled my visa run indefinately. He took 300K a month in deductions. (which was too much anyway) and didn't pay a penny to the gov't. How could - I was illegal. After I bailed, I reported him.

If you don't report him you're selling out yourself and every other ESL teacher in Korea.

[chiaa]

[paperbag princess]

yes, first off, i'm going to talk to the canadian tax people and see what they have to say about all of this. if they say they're going to tax me at the rate of 35 mil then i'm gonna do something about it.

it was a 10 month contract and i was only working 15 hours a week, the salary was 1.5mil/month.

[Homer]

[Beej]

Im in a similar situation but with a sinister twist. For example: The school pays 2.5 million into the account with my name that the agent has access to. The agent takes his 500,000 and pays me 2million into my real account. But at the end of the year the agent pays my tax bill on the whole 2.5 a month. So the tax office believes they are getting the correct amount. The tax rate on a monthly income of 2.5 million is drastically lower than on 15 million a month( about what this agent is skimming)

Then the agent kicks back some of the money to the principal of the school. Im talking about 30 teachers here over a few different schools. Large amount of money.
I worked at my school ( a well known and prestigious private elementary school) for two years. I proved myself and was a respected teacher amongst students, parents, and korean faculty. This year i didnt want to do this tax evasion, and the school didnt renew my contract. The monthly skim was more important to the principal than having reliable teachers.

Its thievery perpetrated by the principal and his agent friend. Basically stealing from the schools foundation. This has erased any remaining respect I had for Korean culture.

I have considered turning them in to the tax office. You can even get a whistle blower reward. My friend turned in her ex company and recently got 30 million. However I think it would be futile since the tax office already got theirs.

[Homer]

What the heck is wrong with you guys? (sorry if this insults you).

Who in their right mind would give access to their bank account to a recruiter or to anyone else besides your employer and then for direct deposit purposes only?

I am sorry you guys are in this spot and hope it works out for you but I cannot understand how anyone would accept a situation like this with regards to setting up an account....

[Beej]