Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TheUrbanMyth]

[YTMND]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[YTMND]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[YTMND]

TheUrbanMyth,

Ok, one last issue and I won't carry this on any longer. If one were to ask the second school about the identity of "the" teacher, should that second school say, "They are an employee of another school that hired them before we did", not, "They are an employee of our school."?

If it is the latter, then are you saying there are two types of employees, one that has benefits (like pension, airfare, visa sponsorship, and severance) and another kind of employee who only works temporarily/part-time without the benefits listed?

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Mountain Mama]

[YTMND]

[YTMND]

[Troglodyte]

[YTMND]

[ontheway]

I'm not going to try to unravel the combination of fact and misinformation by various posters above. Here is how it really works:

Working at Multiple Locations as and Independent Contractor and/or as an Employee:

In Korea it is possible and legal to be either an Independent Contractor or an Employee. This is true for Koreans and Foreigners.

It is also possible to work at multiple locations for different businesses or organizations.

Let's suppose an individual has two work places:
It is possible and legal to be an employee at the first and the second.
It is possible and legal to be an employee at the first and an IC at the second.
It is possible and legal to be an IC at the first and an employee at the second.
It is possible and legal to be an IC at the first and an IC at the second.

This is true for Koreans, foreigners, and E2 teachers.


What about the immigration rules? For foreign workers, Immigration requires that you have their approval to add a second workplace. They also require permission of the individual's sponsor. This has no effect on whether a person is an employee or an IC at a second workplace, just as Immi rules have no affect on the employee/IC situation for the primary workplace. It's still up to the tax office rules and Immigration has no say.

Immigration decides who can come into Korea.

The tax office decides who is an employee or IC.

How can this be? Imagine that you want to be a professional chauffeur, taxi driver, bus driver etc. You may own your own taxi and drive for a bus company. You will have to meet a variety of licensing rules to be able to drive on the roads and operate different vehicles. You may legally be able to drive some vehicles and not others. But none of these rules affect whether you are an employee or IC. Those rules are made by the tax office. Of course the tax office cannot make rules to let you drive a car.


What about taxes, pension and health insurance?

In General:

If you are an IC at multiple locations, you legally have to report all of your earnings and use the total from all your workplaces in make payments for Income taxes, Health Insurance and Pension. Your additional locations are not exempt or excluded from your responsibility to pay.

Likewise, if you are an employee, you will be taxed and pay Health Insurance and Pension on the additional amounts.

If you are working both as an employee and an IC your reporting and filing will be more complex, but you are not exempt.

However, for every job you have as an employee, the employer will have to report and make payments on your behalf and will have to pay half of the Pension and Health Insurance.

For every job as an IC, you are responsible for your own Pension and Health Insurance reporting and payments and you pay 100%. However your boss has to withhold Income taxes and pay them in.

There are, as always, other rules to consider:
If you are an employee or an IC, there are low levels of pay or payment which fall below the level that requires deductions by your boss. They will withhold nothing. It is then up to the individual to be honest and report these earnings or payments if they rise to the level that requires payment of Income taxes, Health Insurance and Pension amounts.


To understand further, remember this:

In Korea, the National Health Insurance is not really insurance, it is a tax that supports a socialized health care system. So, your payments are not set to cover the actuarially determined costs of health services for members of your pool of insured members. Rather, the government just charges more as you make more. So, when you earn more money you pay more for health care. You are supposed to make payments for your earnings from every workplace.

Similarly, the National Pension also requires payments from each workplace, which, within limits, means you will get a bigger payout at retirement.

Korean Income taxes are progressive: the more you make the higher your rate and the more you pay (in general). While withholding rules differ for employees and ICs, the actual tax rates paid at filing time are the same, although an IC may be able to take more deductions before determining his taxable income.

[YTMND]

[TheUrbanMyth]