Korean Job Discussion Forums

vox · Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Location: Jeollabukdo

It seems to me that Ilsan had a special case, being a 12-year old city. Maybe that was bullshit, but I seem to remember hearing that the outskirt new suburbs are taxed slightly differently from the rest of Seoul. Can anyone comment?

E

semphoon · Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Location: Where Nowon is

I am getting taxed 5%!!!

It says in my contract that it should be 5%. I get paid 1.9 mill a month.

What should I do.

Are thre any special case why I would be taxed 5%. Can I use this to break my contract (viewing it as "theft") and walk away?

vox · Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Location: Jeollabukdo

now that I'm seeing other people getting taxed pension and health, it occurs to me that my boss never deducted the pension plan or health (we had the standard 50/50 medical plan) So maybe 3.3% wasn't so bad after all. Perhaps if I bugged him about the 0.3% we might have done everything by the book and I'd be deducted pension, etc.

I heard the % can be 3-6% depending on where you live, and that Gyeonggi-do is 3.3%

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

poet13 · Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:33 pm Post subject:

hello everyone. i've read as many threads as my tired, red eyes can take for a few days, and the sum of it is that i think i'm going to have some grief. Trouble is, I dont know exactly what category i fit into...
I'm a Canadian, thought without ties, (left in '89 to travel the world). I have two dependants, wife and son. Coming to the end of a one year contract. I sat down with my boss last week for an extension negotiation. It didnt go well. As part of any re-up I insisted that i receive my tax receipt for the year. She balked, excuses and more excuses. Suggested that she had ONLY deducted 100,000, but that that sum didnt actually cover all my taxes. I pay 100,000/month on a 2.0M won salary. I do have some overtime now and then, ie; last month, 20 hours, but the previous three months, none. Approx 250 hours OT for the year. I do know that she hasnt deducted for pension, and that we have a separate health insurance (I insisted on health and she chose ACE).
Also as part of reup i insisted on being paid in full on the last day of the contract, though she wants me to wait until the 13th of the month, after the beginning of my new contract. We have had money issues for the entire year, some little, some big. I will say that she is the most creative accountant i have ever heard of.
I am worried that, 1. i am going to get stuck paying back pension. 2. that i have grossly overpaid income tax. 3. that shes working on a way to can me or deduct my entire severance shortly before the end of contract.
any advice?...anyone?

sincerely,
cant afford a lawyer.

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

She's thieving. I wouldn't even factor in OT. She's not paying taxes so why would she claim the OT you were working? That would mean that if you got everything legit with her, she'd have to pay more to the tax office. Not getting taxed on OT is beneficial to you and to her. The only amount you should think about is your base salary. I'm currently paying too much tax and my boss is well aware of the fact that I know he's taxing too much and probably pocketing it. They say a bunch of mumbo jumbo and it's really frustrating, but all you really have to do is tell them at one point that "Well, if you don't give me tax receipts, I'll just go to the tax office myself and do it. I don't want to bother you with all of this, so I'll take care of it" Wink

. Anyway, I'm getting taxed 3.7% as are the other teachers (and they make less than me). It amounts to 81,400 Won. I make 2.2 and you make 2. You're getting taxed more than me. Figure that one out. If you're not Canadian or American, just let the pension thingy slide by.

poet13 · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 2:45 am Post subject:

actually, I am getting taxed on OT. Originally it was 1000 on 18000 OT. Then in the fall she said i was in a new tax bracket and started taking 2000, about 11 % i think.
I have done the research, and i think I wont have grief with it, casue I dont see at any point where she is in the right, and catching her out with the tax office will be very detrimental to her.
My biggest concern at this point is that I could get stuck with the pension payment. I am at a hagwon with less then five employees, and the way I unserstand it is that for a school that small, its not required. If that is true, then i wont feel bad about nailing her to the wall on the tax issue, cause with dependants, I should receive all of it in refund. I used the kr gov websites calculator to do a quick and dirty on what i should have paid, and it came back with a figure that A, says I shold have been paying around 28000 on 2M with two dependants. I do wonder however, where those dependants have to be. My family lives in the Philippines. Would they have to live here to qualify as dependants? I doubt that as they could only ever get a tourist visa here....
thoughts? Opinions?

poet13 · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 2:46 am Post subject:

actually, I am getting taxed on OT. Originally it was 1000 on 18000 OT. Then in the fall she said i was in a new tax bracket and started taking 2000, about 11 % i think.
I have done the research, and i think I wont have grief with it, casue I dont see at any point where she is in the right, and catching her out with the tax office will be very detrimental to her.
My biggest concern at this point is that I could get stuck with the pension payment. I am at a hagwon with less then five employees, and the way I unserstand it is that for a school that small, its not required. If that is true, then i wont feel bad about nailing her to the wall on the tax issue, cause with dependants, I should receive all of it in refund. I used the kr gov websites calculator to do a quick and dirty on what i should have paid, and it came back with a figure that A, says I shold have been paying around 28000 on 2M with two dependants. I do wonder however, where those dependants have to be. My family lives in the Philippines. Would they have to live here to qualify as dependants? I doubt that as they could only ever get a tourist visa here....
thoughts? Opinions?

poet13 · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 2:51 am Post subject:

oops, sorry

poet13 · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:51 pm Post subject:

hello jacl
i had a question about your tax. I have read some other threads, and gone to the Korean gov website, and without employing my vast acccounting skills (NOT!), have seen a range of estimates from 28000 to 34000 income tax on 2M Won. Yours is much higher. Does that include pension and health? If it doesnt, can you tell me how yours is calculated? Whether mine should be 74000 or 28000 isnt really important, I have been paying way too much anyways. over 12 months, the overpay is either going to be +300000 at 74K, or 864000 at 28000. i I think she would put out her eyes with a pencil before she ever gave that back to me though...

poet13 · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:36 am Post subject:

i called the english tax hotline this PM per previous suggestions. Very nice fellow on the other end was confident that my school was not paying my taxes (100,000 on 2M), and offered to call her for me. I said thank you, but not yet, I will talk to her again, and try to settle it amicably. He said that was very kind of me and told me to call and ask for him again if I had any further trouble. He wasnt surprised or doubtful at all when i gave him the details of my situation.
lookin' up!

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

poet13 · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 1:46 am Post subject:

hey again. i read somewhere that there were two agencies one could call in the event that things went bad. I have already called the tax office to find out where i stand (and its good), and i understand that there is some legal agency that can provide relief.

the latest in my saga, I called it the perfect storm in another post, is that my boss has pushed my pay date back a week, cause this last month worked out to 50 hours (fifth week + some) OT, so she said she will pay until the 27th of january. I asked her what the day rate for the holiday pay was and she hemmed and hawed, finally suggesting that her fuel oil bills were very high last month (my apartment and school are in the building which she owns, its an uninsulated steel prefab box on the roof though quite comfortable) and that i should be covering part of that.

my contract ends on the 2nd, though because I didnt actually get stamped back into korea until the 8th after a visa run to japan, she wants me to work until the eighth. I did do two free "observation" days (i taught) before i got my visa, but i dont think i can say anything about that cause that constituted illegal work (i didnt know at the time).

so, long and short, i am really getting worried that on the eighth, she will say see ya, you have to leave tomorrow. no money. at this point, if i add up the last month, five weeks, three days, i month severance, unused holidays, it works out to more between 5 and 6 million won. thats 5 or 6 million reasons for her to jack me.

I know i have some options, tax office, immigration (though i dont know what to say to them, and i dont have the time off to go to that city - i'm in a small city),

but does any kind, bored soul out there have any more suggestions or links?