Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blunder1983]

I've just found out, as I was in England for 41 days of the 05-06 tax year I have to pay tax on everything I earnt in Korea.


A number of problems have arisen, taking out the fact I'm tremendously bummed...

1. I dont have ANY payslips, none stating my income/tax paid etc. etc.
2. My coteacher is unreachable, making getting payslips impossible

Any ideas on
How I can find out what Korean tax I paid?
How I could get out of paying the whopping tax bill I now face (its like �40 a day for every day I spent in England)
Where I can speak to someone (in English) in the Korean tax department.


Anyway, UK expats only over for one year, BE WARNED, you WILL pay tax on your money unless you left 6th April-5th April each year.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Hey, good to hear from you again and sorry to hear about that. Good luck sorting that one out. Damn I'm glad I fled the West.

[StAxX SOuL]

1. How do they know what you earnt in Korea? You could have quite easily been travelling the world, right?

2. You have to pay tax on EVERYTHING you earnt even though you paid tax on it whilst in Korea?

3. What is the limit for being in England and not having to pay tax on your yearly earnings? I left in Feb and I'll be returning March 1st meaning I'll be in the UK for approx. 35 days before the end of the tax year... might I be best advised to take up temporary residence with friends in another country until April 5th...

[Dodgy Al]

Ouch - that's gotta hurt! I'm a little confused about a few things though.

1. Would I be right in saying you have to pay �1640?
2. Is this because you stayed longer than 40 days? If so, your timing's incredibly unlucky!
3. How did they find out the duration of your stay at home? And what you had earnt in Korea? The IR must have done some real investigating!
4. If you showed them payslips detailing taxes paid in Korea, would you still have to pay the crazy-high tax?

This really sucks. I've been staying under the IR radar for quite some time now, so am a little worried about going home, especially after this thread! Hope you get it sorted.

Al

[xtchr]

Weren't you in a public school? Getting paid by direct credit every month? If you had a bank passbook thingy it would show up on there, or maybe contact your old bank for their records. (Probably easier said than done - good luck).

[StAxX SOuL]

I've just been doing some research and found an interesting link...


http://www.direct.gov.uk/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/LeavingOrComingIntoTheUK/LeavingOrComingIntoTheUKArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=10026234&chk=tfBi9M


'm no tax expert but it seems to suggest you only pay income tax on your earnings from the UK... not your earnings abroad

[Dodgy Al]

Great link StAxX SOuL (that's a bloody annoying name to type by the way!).

I like this part:

'If you go to live or work abroad and become non-resident in the UK, you might still have to pay UK tax - but only on your income from the UK.'

That makes it pretty clear... as long as they consider you to be 'non-resident'. I'm guessing they don't believe blunder1983 qualifies as a non-resident. Perhaps because you are only considered to be a non-resident if 'your absence and full-time work abroad lasts at least the whole tax year'. Eeek!

So, even though you were abroad for a full year, if your contract didn't start until May, you do not qualify as a 'non-resident' because you were not absent for the whole 'tax year'.

Am I reading this wrong? Probably. Am I getting myself more confused? Most definitely. Time for a beer...

[StAxX SOuL]

This is some information taken from Deloitte & Touche:

[StAxX SOuL]

Hmmmm...

Maybe you could try and factor in the 183 days you're entitled for visiting the UK

If I see my contract out then my full-time employment will cease Feb 28th... so theoretically you could say I took full-time employment abroad, and was out of the UK for a whole tax year because the days I was back in the UK were actually visiting days... if I go to the USA or Japan for the excess days then maybe that's an easier option

Worse comes to worse, looks like I might be asking the boss to pencil me some kind of ghost extention to my contract... that works out as a hell of a lot to pay per day just so I can call myself a UK resident

[crazy tigger]

Can you clarify how this came to light with the UK tax office? And also has anyone else experienced this? I'm looking at coming over to Korea and was assuming i would be exempt from tax at home but obviously this changes things...

[alinkorea]

There's no need to panic. You need to have LONG holidays back in Blighty in order to qualify:

When are you non-resident for UK tax?

You�ll be treated as non-resident from the day after you leave the UK if you can show:

* you left the UK to go abroad permanently or your absence and full-time work abroad lasts at least the whole tax year
* your visits to the UK are less than 183 days in a tax year and average less than 91 days a tax year over a maximum of four consecutive years


So unless you go back for six months on one trip or average two months a trip over four years. you don't pay.

[ilovebdt]

[R-Seoul]

I've got another slightly different question; If you've been abroad for the entire tax year and are therefore classified as a non-resident can you reclaim any tax you've paid on savings accounts, bonds, shares you hold in the UK?

My guess is yes but have no idea on how to do it.

[ilovebdt]

[R-Seoul]

I did, they said reclaim it via the taxman. Was just wondering if anybody has actually done this here...?