Year-end tax settlement — settled with February's salary
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 work for a company, your tax is recalculated once a year. If you overpaid, you get a refund; if you underpaid, you pay more. Foreigners do this the same way.
Deadline
The company settles it when paying February's salary the following year. Documents are usually collected by the company in January — if you don't submit them then, you'll only receive your basic personal deduction.
📌 Key points
If you don't submit documents, the company calculates using only your basic personal deduction and standard tax credit. If you owe additional tax, that much more is withheld. If the additional tax exceeds 100,000 won, it can be withheld in installments from February through April's salary.
📞 Contact
Done through your company (the withholding agent). National Tax Service consultation: 126; English-language consultation for foreigners: 1588-0560.
You can download your receipts from one place. The screen is in Korean.
⚠️ Things to watch out for
There is a separate special provision that taxes foreign workers at a flat 19% of earned income (Special Tax Treatment Control Act, Article 18-2). It can be applied for by those who first started working in Korea by December 31, 2026, and can be used for up to 20 years from the date they first started working. However, choosing this special provision excludes all non-taxable income, income deductions, tax credits, and reductions — this is usually disadvantageous for those with dependents. Which option is better varies by person, so ask your company or the tax office. We do not calculate this for you.
❗ What happens if you don't
Even if you missed the year-end settlement, you can redo it during the May comprehensive income tax final return. If you miss that too, there's still the option of a request for correction — ask the tax office.
See also
Basis
- 소득세법 제137조제1항제3항제4항 · 조세특례제한법 제18조의2제2항제3항제5항 — 법제처 API 원문 대조 2026-09-10 (소득세법 MST 280405 · 조특법 MST 280409, 시행 2026-07-01)
This content was checked on 2026-09-10.