(Source: Korea.net)

October 29, 2008
By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer

Waiting for year-end tax refunds this year? If yes, read and prepare your documents to get some of your money back in the December tax refund season.

Foreign Taxpayer Service Desk at Yongsan District Tax OfficeExpatriates who have lived in Korea for at least a year or who have a job requiring a longer stay receive the same tax benefits as those of citizens.

According to the National Tax Service, in 2006, about 242,000 foreigners received tax refunds and declared combined incomes of 229.5 billion won, up 29 percent from the previous year, and the number of non-Koreans who received tax refunds rose to 300,000 last year.

To better prepare for the tax returns of non-Koreans, the official English website of the National Tax Service (http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/) provides various tax settlement documents in English.

Those who need year-end tax refund information can download related documents available both in Hangeul or Acrobat format.

Another good idea is to keep your receipts for cash transfers and medical treatment, credit card bills and insurance or donation receipts for accurate calculation of your tax refund.

The detailed procedures may vary depending on the individual situation of non-Korean workers, but the state tax office website can also help tax payers following guidelines and other tax information.

Meanwhile, if you are an expatriate working in Korea in the education or research sectors upon invitation of the Korean government and are interested in full tax exemption, you need to find out whether you are registered for a tax exemption from the beginning and whether your country has a treaty with Korea for full tax exemption.

Special lecturers are eligible to receive tax exemptions, and even if you are a special lecturer and have registered late for your tax exemption status, it is possible to retroactively receive your tax exemption.

If a special lecturer is from Japan or the United States and invited to work as a special lecturer at a university in Korea with the explicit goal of teaching or researching, he or she is eligible for tax exemption from your time of entry to Korea.

In July 2008, the National Tax Service installed the Foreign Taxpayer Service Desk at 20 more district tax offices, increasing the number of the DTOs with the Service Desk to 30 from the previous 10. It recently published a guidebook titled “Foreign Taxpayers？？ Guide to Korean Taxes” to help international taxpayers better understand Korean taxation syste. To see the book, click here.

More information about Korean taxes is also available at http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/ or call 02-397-1440 (English available).

* Foreign taxpayer service desks are located at the following district tax offices:

Seoul (15 district tax offices)
Gangnam, Guro, Geumcheon, Namdaemun, Mapo, Seodaemun, Seongdong, Songpa, Yeongdeungpo, Jongno, Junbgu, Yongsan, Samseong, Seocho, Yeoksam

Gyeonggi-do (6 district tax offices)
Ansan, Seongnam, Suwon, Euijeongbu, Inchoen, Pyeongtaek

Daejeon (2 district tax offices)
Seodaejeon (South Daejeon), Cheonan

Gwangju (2 district tax offices)
Mokpo, Seogwangju (South Gwangju)

Daegu (2 district tax offices)
Gumi, Seodaegu (South Daegu)

Busan (3 district tax offices)
Busanjin, Changwon, Suyeong

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