Korean Job Discussion Forums

[moptop]

i have been here for 6 years and i have never had so many problems as i have with this school. i am so confused and i really hope someone can help me out. I have tried calling and talking to medical, pension, and tax offices, but the only english speakers i found were at the medical office and they weren't much help. i am out in the country so i can't visit anywhere in seoul.

I have been trying to calculate my pension. i was told by admin that they calculate this amount from your tax forms. on taxes they calculate the 30% discount on your yearly salary that includes base pay, supplementary classes, and severance pay. what makes it confusing is that i started in sept. '08 and they calculated everything from january to december '09. they have told me that my reported tax income for 2009 is 32,400,000 won. they are now making their pension calculations on 30% of this total = 22,680,000. is this correct?

i am only paying 77, 440 won for my monthly pension. it has never been that low at any school i have worked for. when i calculate it myself, with my monthly salary of 2.7 million at 4.5% i get 121,500. am i doing it wrong? it's so complicated the way they are doing it that i can barely understand and my co-teacher is having problems translating for me with the administration.

I also just had to pay medical an extra 245,000 won because she didn't tkae enough out of that, either. apparently medical deductions they calculate on the reported tax income of 32,400,000 won without the 30% discount, so i got dinged there. if medical does it on the final total, why doesn't pension?

my co-teacher showed me a booklet from administration (in korean but i could read the numbers) that showed you should make pension calculations from the income of 32.4 million - 30%= 22,680,000. this is the number they are taking pension from and not the 32.4 million. this was not the same as the last public school in this town, and it doesn't make any sense.

i have checked all the links from the FAQs on this site, and they seem to be saying something different. can someone please help me? i feel like i'm going insane!!!!!

[OculisOrbis]

Are you talking about your current school taking 30% off your gross before they calculate your pension. If they are doing that now, yes, they are ripping you off. (Even if they were doing it before you were getting ripped off but no government office would say so)

The 30% tax reduction benefit for foreigners ended on Dec. 31, 2009. As of Jan. 1, 2010, foreigners pay taxes, pension, health on 100% of their gross income.

go here: http://www.nts.go.kr/
click 'English'
click 'What's new'
click announcement #184 "Major changes for 2010 individual income tax filing"
Second paragraph.

or call 1588-0560 or 02-2076-5711

[moptop]

i saw that, but my school calculated it on the 2009 tax year, not the new tax year. i have never had a school do this.

when i looked at my 2007 and 2008 pay stubs, they were taking 108,000 won for pension and i made 300,000 won less a month. now i am paying 77,440 won for pension.

can they take the pension deduction from the total that is 30% less of my salary or do they take it from my net pay?

[OculisOrbis]

As i said before, they aren't supposed to (it's a 30% reduction for TAX purposes, not a 30% pension and health reduction), but every Korean government office I talked to gave it a big thumbs up. Basically, as there was nothing written in the tax, health or pension legislation that said they can't do it, in their minds it means they can do it. Your schools not applying it across the board was fair and fortunate for you, but it won't help you. It's BS, but there's nowhere to take that fight where you have a chance of winning.