Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Seabangs]

Greetings, What is the situation for working in Korea, say at a Cram School, getting paid in local currency, returning to the USA and converting it over to USD... Do I have to declare that as earned income on my US taxes in Jan. I have not been paying taxes for a while and would prefer not to, so I was wondering if this is optional on my part. I understand that I will have to pay Korean taxes in some jobs. Perhaps someone will know the answer or can direct me to an informative web site regarding this matter. Thanks in advance. ESL teacher headed to Korea. CB

[warren pease]

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/ar01.html#en_US_publink100047300

Foreign earned income exclusion and housing exclusion and deduction. Chapter 4 discusses income tax benefits that apply if you meet certain requirements while living abroad. You may qualify to treat up to $87,600 of your income as not taxable by the United States. You may also be able to either deduct part of your housing expenses from your income or treat a limited amount of income used for housing expenses as not taxable by the United States. These benefits are called the foreign earned income exclusion and the foreign housing deduction and exclusion.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/ch04.html#en_US_publink100047399

Requirements

To claim the foreign earned income exclusion, the foreign housing exclusion, or the foreign housing deduction, you must meet all three of the following requirements.

1.

Your tax home must be in a foreign country.
2.

You must have foreign earned income.
3.

You must be either:
1.

A U.S. citizen who is a bona fide resident of a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year,
2.

A U.S. resident alien who is a citizen or national of a country with which the United States has an income tax treaty in effect and who is a bona fide resident of a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year, or
3.

A U.S. citizen or a U.S. resident alien who is physically present in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months.

basically make less than $86,000 and spend 330 of 365 days out of the US and you're US tax free. I don't know of any legit jobs in Korea that are tax exempt.

[Seabangs]

What if I only work in Korea for 6 months - what then? Would I have to file US taxes on income earned in Korea? I would likely go back to the US for the other 6 months, but could also go to another country and limit my time back in the US.

[warren pease]

yes. be an adult, pay your taxes.