Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

I'm a US citizen who has been working in Korea for almost three years. My first job was at a hagwon where I was charged an income tax ( a Korean one ? ) and I received an income tax return.

Now I've been working for public schools and hagwons through a mix of contracts in the following years.

I worked one public school contract last year in which I only stayed for 4 months. They botched my paperwork and pay left and right and many times told me that I owed them for things they were supposed to have been deducting. In the end it appears that they didn't make my pension payments even after they got the money from me. As I left the contract early and they demanded I reimburse them for my travel allowance I guess they felt entitled to my pension payments. There was no mention of travel allowance reimbursement in my contract.

In general they were sour that I wanted to get out of their crappy school and their crappy district but hadn't bothered to read the contract they signed me to. In the end they shafted me.

After that I worked for a hagwon for one month then moved into the position I'm currently in but leaving shortly after successfully finishing my contract.

Now, after all that meandering I'll get back to my main point. They say that because I am a US citizen they didn't deduct any taxes from my pay. I will verify with my bank tonight. But, if this is the case, then why did my first year hagwon deduct and then give me a refund?

[Ut videam]

Under the terms of the U.S.-Korea tax treaty, U.S. citizens teaching in Korean public schools or universities are exempt from Korean income tax for two years. Hagwon teachers do not qualify for the exemption, however.

[chaz47]

OK. Thanks, I actually read that just a minute ago. What an odd rule.