Korean Job Discussion Forums

Big Mac · Joined: 17 Sep 2005

I'm in the midst of a job search right now. I'm getting bombarded with phone calls and e-mails from just about every recruiter and employer under the sun.

Most of the contracts are crap and I dismiss them immediately. Others look good enough that I want to try negotiating with them.

But I can't seem to get the employers to give me the tax rate that the National Tax Service says I should get. You can check it out at this site:

http://nts.go.kr/front/service/refer_cal/gani/refer_gani_eng.asp

All of the employers seem to say it's 3.3 % no matter what the salary. But from what I can see at this site, it's 1.8 % for 2.2 million and 2.1 % for 2.3 million.

It seems to be a tough one to get employers to budge on...so if I see a contract I really like I'm not going to make a huge issue of it. But why are all of them insisting on 3.3 %? Where are they getting this?

It makes me mad because in the past I paid 1.6 % on 2 million.

Reason. · Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: Los Angeles, CA - for now.

I'm having the same problem. Whenever I mention that income tax should be 1.6-1.8%, they always seems to not know what i'm talking about.

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

I've got the same problem with my current place. My director is convinced the tax rate is 3.3% for me. He's called the tax office about it, too, when I was nearby and could hear the conversation, and they are telling him the same thing. They're saying that the lower tax rate is for "salary men", which is a word in Korean that doesn't translate to English proerly. Basically, it means a person with an indefinite, standing contract as opposed to a year-by-year worker.

However, others on this board disagree with that information. And you say you've paid less in the past?

In all, it comes out to a paltry sum either way, but it is annoying.

oldfatfarang · Joined: 19 May 2005 Location: On the road to somewhere.

Overtaxing teachers' salaries is a common trick used by Korean Hakwons to reduce teacher's salaries. Koreans know that Westerners are used to paying very high taxes. So they know most teachers will not argue over paying an inflated tax rate of a few percentage.
However, the tax rates in Korea are clearly stated on the Korean tax website. www.knts.go.kr.
I know, my school overtaxed me at 4.5 % last year. The tax should have been 1.6%. I had months of stress trying to get this money back ($660.00). I eventually demanded it as 'paid holidays in lieu of'. My employers "didn't have the money to pay me ?"
Yeah , right, When I returned from my holiday I found out my employers had been on holiday in Hong Kong!
Type in your annual salary and the KNTS website will tell you how much tax your school should take. Don't pay anymore than that figure. The school won't be forwarding your tax to the tax office anyway (another common trick to reduce salaries)

Big Mac · Joined: 17 Sep 2005

oldfatfarang · Joined: 19 May 2005 Location: On the road to somewhere.

My Director got the inflated (illegal) tax rate of 4.5% from his recruiter. When we questioned that figure one year later, the recruiter just said: "we always say 4.5% for all contracts."

My Director and I had numerous discussions with KNTS Foreigner Helpline over this matter. And my employer kept lying to me about what the KNTS said. I know this as every time my employer told me the incorrect rate, and that he didn't have to refund my over paid tax, I rang the KNTS website Foreigner Help Line. The KNTS would then tell me 'exactly' what they had told my employer (that he was over taxing me and had to refund it).

Just go to the KNTS website calculator and it will tell you what tax you should pay. Print off a copy, show it to your employer. It doesn't matter what rate you signed for in your contract, The correct rate is "the Law" and so is the correct and legal rate. Good luck.

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

I think a lot of people are too suspicious about the motives of hagwon owners when it comes to the tax issue. It seems there's genuine confusion on the issue. As I said, I listened to my boss call the tax office and they even told him it should be 3.3%. And, he volunteered to show me the receipts of where he pays that full amount to the tax office every month.

It sounds to me like a bureaucratic mess, really.