Korean Job Discussion Forums

[KoreaninKorea]

Well, I'm working for a boss that isn't that great. Yeah, you might know the feeling. Anyways, I agreed that I would be paid 2 million won instead of the 2.2 because the first week of work was training. I know I shouldn't have but whatever. Then I checked to see how much he put into my account. The total came about 185000 won. That come to 7.5% in taxes. I think this might be okay if I was enrolled in the health care that I was promised, but I'm not.

I have a F-4 visa and work in Incheon. I want to have an idea about how much taxes I have to pay. When I confront him, I want to be well informed so he can't weasel his way out of it. I'm also going to get on his case about my medical health care.

Any information or advice would be helpful. Thanks.

[Big Mac]

You should ask to have your "taxes" broken down one by one. To me, taxes are the money you pay the government for working...not all the other things like pension, health insurance, unemployment insurance, etc. Don't let them lump it all together.

Here is the breakdown of what you should be paying on 2 million won:

Tax: 31,190 Won (I think that's about 1.6 per cent) If they argue with this, show them the National Tax Service's website at http://nts.go.kr/eng/help/help_52.asp?top_code=H001&sub_code=HS05&ssub_code=HSE2

Pension: 91,000 Won (4.5 per cent)

Medical insurance I: 50,800 (2.54 per cent)

Medical insurance II: 2,057 Won (4.05 per cent of Medical Insurance I. This is some sort of new extra charge that the government just started imposing this year).

You may also be charged a local residents tax that is usually less than 10,000 Won and varies depending on where you live.

As a foreigner, you are not required to pay unemployment insurance.

So your deductions on 2,000,000 Won should be about 182,547 Won. That's about 9 per cent of your pay.

Hope that helps.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Yeah, ask him to break it down for you.

[KoreaninKorea]

Thanks for your help. I will ask my boss to break it down for me. It seems that I'm paying the right amount except for a few things. We are a small hagwon and I'm the only expat. From what I understand, schools don't have to pay into the pension unless they have five foreigners. The medical doesn't count because he's not paying into that yet. I didn't receive a medical card like I did last time.

So I know I have to confront him on the medical. It's in my contract and I really do expect to get it sooner than later. How do I confront him on the pension. I'm sure he isn't paying into it, but how do I prove it?

[Whistleblower]

[Big Mac]

I've heard about a rule about five employees, but not five foreigners. The pension corporation doesn't care if you're a foreigner. Every worker is the same in their eyes.

If you have five EMPLOYEES in your workplace, then you have to pay.

By the way, just in case you didn't know...you want the pension. Your boss has to match the money you pay and you get all of that money back when you leave Korea, as long as you're from Canada, the U.S., Australia or Ireland. It's a great savings plan that you don't want to miss out on.