Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mungmungface]

Hello,

I'm back in the states. I worked in Korea from Aug 2008 - May 2009, only 9 months.
I worked at a hagwon with a F-4 visa.
I'm filing my taxes for 2009 and I'm wondering how I work in my income from Korea? I have no paperwork or forms from the wages I earned in Korea. I didn't earn very much but I don't think I'm exempted from the foreign income tax because I did not stay in the country for the whole year. I worked legally and my pay was taxed when I worked in Korea, so it doesn't seem right to pay so much. Do I still need to file what I earned in Korea?

Thank you!

[dogshed]

Chances are you won't get caught, but if you do then the issue is whether it will be a civil case or a criminal case. If it's a civil case you will pay interest and penalties. If they do it as a criminal case then well that's could include fines or jail time and it would give you something on your criminal record.

Chances you will get caught are not that great, but here's something I just found on the IRS website:

[dogshed]

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=97037,00.html

You can get a credit for foreign tax paid. Since taxes are so low here compared to the US it won't be much.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p514/index.html

[mungmungface]

Ughh...
I don't like the idea of doing the wrong thing. I just don't want to pay $2000 worth of taxes having not made much money in the first place! I have no paperwork either.

I just don't understand the 12 month rule, since technically having been there under a year I made less.

I don't know what to do!

Thank you for your help though:)

[Fox]

You need to be out of the country for 330 days out of the year to be exempt from taxes on the income in question, not a whole year. Even the 330 day cut off only exempts you for the first $80,000 or so earned. It sounds like you didn't make that cut off either though. As such, it should technically be reported like any other income. If you have pay stubs, you can present them. If you don't, you're left presenting the numbers from memory (assuming you can't contact your previous employers and get the information). Or you could just say you earned nothing while you were out of the country and hope they dont' look into it. They probably won't.

Re: tax credit on foreign taxes paid, United States citizens are exempt from Korean income tax for their first 2 years. He shouldn't have paid any foreign income tax.

[mungmungface]

Thanks to you both.

I'm going to talk to an accountant and figure out how to legally go about this and do what I need to do to get at least some of it credited.

[young_clinton]

[mungmungface]

I definitely don't want to do anything I shouldn't. I'm talking to an accountant on how to go about getting the proper paperwork and paying my taxes for what I earned in Korea.