Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hyeon Een]

I just checked the year end tax assessment thingey my University has done (and presumably submitted). It would be correct if I was Korean, but I'm not. They've submitted it as if I was being taxed on 100% of my income instead of 70%, so according to their calculations I'm going to only get a W90,000 tax refund instead of approximately W1,000,000.

The admin people speak no English, and I think that even if I was fluent in Korean this would be very hard to make them comprehend. So can anyone point me in the direction of the Korean tax department's information about foreigners income tax in Korean? The page in English is very helpful to me.. but it will be useless if I try and show it to the admin department.

[sjk1128]

First go here:
http://www.nts.go.kr/front/service/publish_book/valgan_book_view.asp?news_seq=5808

Then click on the top link to open a PDF file. It is an Income Tax Guide for Foreign English Teachers for 2006, but it contains the info you're looking for in English and Korean. The only guide I can find for 2007 is English only. Anyway, article 18-2 (written in 2003 and still in force) of the Korean tax laws apparently explans what you're after. Look at the bottom of pages 45 and 46 in the footnotes to see it explained in English and Korean. A foreigner can choose a flat 17% tax rate or to have his/her taxable income reduced by 30%. The first is useful if you earn a lot of money in Korea (more than most teachers). The second is what produces the most favorable results for most teachers - what you're after.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Juregen]

Mmhh that site seems difficult to navigate.

Thanks for the link nevertheless.