Income tax in Korea for foreign residents
Tax in Korea is less painful than it looks once you know your status. The 183-day rule decides how you are taxed, the year-end settlement decides what you get back, and a handful of deductions decide how much. Here is the whole picture.
Guides
Start with the year-end settlement and your tax-resident status. Everything else is deductions and special cases that build on those two.
Year-End Tax Settlement
How the year-end settlement (연말정산) works, the timeline, and the deductions to claim before the window closes.
Read guideTax-Resident Status
The 183-day rule that decides whether you are taxed as a resident, and why it changes everything downstream.
Read guideNon-Permanent Resident Tax
How foreign residents under five years are taxed on overseas income, and the remittance rule.
Read guideThe 19% Flat-Tax Election
Who can elect the flat tax, when it beats the progressive rate, and how to choose.
Read guideThe Freelancer 3.3% Refund
What the 3.3% withholding is, who gets it back, and how to claim the refund at filing.
Read guideCredit-Card Spending Deduction
How card and cash-receipt spending lowers your taxable income, and the thresholds that matter.
Read guideRent Tax Credit
The monthly-rent tax credit foreign residents can claim, and who qualifies.
Read guideHousing Subscription Deduction
The housing subscription savings (청약저축) deduction and whether it is worth it for you.
Read guideStatus first, then deductions
Two questions decide almost everything about your Korean taxes, and they come in order.
- Are you a tax resident? The 183-day rule is the gate. Residents are taxed on Korean income (and, after five years, worldwide income); non-residents are taxed only on Korea-sourced income.
- Progressive rate or the 19% flat tax? Many foreign workers can elect a flat 19% rate. Whether it beats the progressive brackets depends on your income and deductions.
- Then the deductions: card spending, rent, housing savings, dependents, and insurance all reduce the bill at the year-end settlement.
Estimate your settlement with the year-end tax estimator, or start with the year-end settlement guide.
Related: pension, severance, and investing
Tax connects to what you have paid in and what you do with what is left.
Pension Refund on Departure
Who can reclaim National Pension Service (NPS) contributions and the lump-sum timing.
Read guideSeverance Pay
What you are owed on departure (퇴직금) and how it is taxed, including the IRP rollover option.
Read guidePersonal Finance Hub
The other side of money in Korea: brokerage, ISA, IRP, overseas stocks, and building credit.
Read guide