Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Snowkr]

Hi all

Last year I worked for a small hogwan and paid about 40- 50,000 won each month in tax. On the paystub it just read, "income tax" I thought this seemed like a really small amount.

During my first month I got some sort of application having to do with pension and my boss told me I didn't need to apply for it unless I really wanted to. I just let it go and didn't think about it again until I had to pay U.S. $1400 in social security taxes to my country that following April. This was apparantly due to the fact that I had not paid any social security on my Korean income.

This year I'm back in the states teaching and working on my MA. I just had to pay over $1500 U.S.D. in social security for the second half of my year income from Korea.

My question is, if pension had been deducted along with income tax, would the amount have been a lot more than 40-50,000 won per month? Is it legal for employers to not even take out pension if their school is below a certain size and only has a few foreign teachers?

I've not met anyone else, American or otherwise who has had to pay this kind of money into tax for their own country after working in Korea. I think I could have avoided this by having my boss take deduct pension from my pay each month since the U.S. and Korea have a social security agreement.

Has anyone else ever been through this?