Acquisition tax — no bill arrives. Report it yourself within 60 days
This page is machine translated from Ieumi's guide written in Korean. If the meaning is confusing, please look at the Korean original text. View original text (Korean)
If you buy a home, land, or car, you must self-report and pay within 60 days. No bill will arrive no matter how long you wait.
Deadline
60 days from the date of purchase. For inheritance, it's 6 months from the last day of the month the inheritance began, or 9 months if any heir resides abroad. For a gift, it's 3 months from the last day of the month received.
📌 Key points
This tax is especially risky because no bill arrives. With resident tax, property tax, and car tax, a notice arrives if you haven't paid, but with acquisition tax, nothing happens — the penalty tax just accumulates. Also, to register (title or other registration), you must pay the acquisition tax by the date you submit the application — many people find out only when they go to register.
📞 Contact
The tax division of the city/county/district office with jurisdiction over the purchased real estate or vehicle. Online: Wetax (wetax.go.kr); paper applications are also accepted at the counter.
Foreigners can sign up for Wetax too. However, simple authentication like Naver or Kakao is not available — sign-up and login only work with a public certificate or financial certificate, according to Wetax's FAQ. If you don't have a certificate, you can use "Quick Payment" on the homepage with the electronic payment number from your bill to pay without logging in, or you can go to your city/county/district office. When entering your name, it must be in capital letters exactly as on your passport, including spacing, or the search will fail. Service hours are not 24 hours either — electronic civil service is 06:00–24:00, and payment is 00:30–23:30. If you don't yet have an alien registration number or a domestic residence report number, you cannot file through Wetax — bring your passport to the city/county/district office's reporting center, and they will file it using your passport number.
⚠️ Things to watch out for
There is one more thing when buying land. Land within a military facility protection zone, cultural heritage protection zone, or ecological landscape conservation area requires permission before signing a contract, and a contract made without permission is invalid. Ask your city/county/district office before signing whether the property you're buying is in such a zone.
❗ What happens if you don't
After 60 days, a penalty tax for failing to report and a penalty tax for failing to pay are both added. You end up paying more than the tax you originally owed.
See also
Basis
- 지방세법 제20조제1항제4항 — 법제처 API 원문 대조 2026-09-10 (MST 282559, 시행 2026-07-01)
- 위택스 자주묻는질문 「외국인」 7건 https://www.wetax.go.kr/tcp/wtg/J040201M01.do — 실물 확인 2026-09-11 (답변 등록일 2026-03-25)
This content was checked on 2026-09-11.