Residents with global income in Korea must file their global income tax return with the head of the district tax office having jurisdiction over their place of tax payment between May 1 and May 31 of the following year (Income Tax Act Article 70(1)). Let's be clear about one thing first: this article is not legal or tax advice. Whether you're required to file, and how much tax you owe, is not settled by this article — so be sure to confirm with ☎1588-0560 (the National Tax Service's English-language helpline for foreigners) or the district tax office covering your registered address.
And if you came here looking for "how to use Hometax in English," we need to fix the starting premise. The National Tax Service says the following in its English-language guidebook for foreigners, Individual Income Tax and Benefit Guide for Foreigners 2025: "홈택스는 한글만 이용 가능하며 / Hometax service is available only in Korean."
The same goes for the official notice the National Tax Service distributed on April 30, 2026 in four languages — Korean, English, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Even in the English version, the Hometax filing path is written out with the Korean menu names exactly as they appear: "www.hometax.go.kr → 전체메뉴 → 세금신고 → 종합소득세 신고." You can get guidance in English, but that doesn't mean the filing screens themselves open in English.
Only two routes take you all the way through in English: mailing in the English-language forms, and calling ☎1588-0560. The snags that hit foreign residents specifically — leaving a job mid-year, two workplaces in one year, an imminent departure — come after that.
Note: All statute citations, tax rates, penalty rates, and deadlines in this article are current as of 2026-08. Tax law is amended every year, and the sunset date for the 19% flat rate in particular has been extended and re-extended repeatedly, so please re-check on the National Tax Service website or at ☎126 before you file.
February year-end settlement and the May global income tax return are two different procedures
The first thing that trips up most readers is figuring out which one applies to them. The two differ in timing and in who does the work.
| Item | February year-end settlement | May global income tax final return |
|---|---|---|
| Who does it | Your employer (the withholding agent) | You, personally |
| When | Usually with the February payroll of the following year | May 1–May 31 of the following year (Income Tax Act Article 70(1)) |
| Income covered | Employment income from that employer | All of your global income for the year |
| If you missed it | Square up in the May final return | Late filing, or a request for correction |
The National Tax Service made the same point in its April 2026 notice: "If you earned employment income in Korea but were unable to complete year-end settlement in February due to resignation or another reason, or were unable to prepare the relevant supporting documents at year-end settlement and therefore did not receive deductions, you may settle your tax and pay or receive a refund during this filing period." In other words, for anyone who missed February, May is the settlement window.
The first fork isn't nationality — it's whether you're a "resident"
Tax law doesn't sort people by nationality. Income Tax Act Article 1-2(1) defines a resident as an individual who has a domicile in Korea, or a place of residence in Korea for 183 days or more. The standard is how long you actually stayed in Korea, not the color of your passport or your visa type.
The National Tax Service's English guidebook uses the same language: "The resident's decision is not determined by nationality or acquisition of permanent residency."
Caution: A lot of articles claim that your filing obligation depends on your visa status (E-9, H-2, D-2, F-4, and so on), but the Income Tax Act divides people by resident/non-resident status and by type of income — not by visa status. On top of that, the tax treaty between Korea and your home country can change how you're taxed, at what rate, and whether you're exempt, so treaty application is an individual determination. Check your own case at ☎1588-0560 or ☎126 (National Tax Consultation Center).
The three classic reasons year-end settlement didn't happen
Foreign workers who end up filing in May usually got there by one of three routes.
- Leaving a job mid-year: If you quit before December, that employer won't run a year-end settlement for you in February. Deductions left out of the simplified settlement done at your departure can stay unclaimed.
- Two or more workplaces in one year: Income Tax Act Article 73(2) does not apply the final-return exemption to people who receive employment income from two or more sources (daily workers excluded). You must combine the employment income from each workplace and file. That said, cases where there's no additional tax due — because of a combined year-end settlement, for example — are excluded.
- No supporting documents, so no deduction: If you missed deductions at year-end settlement because you couldn't gather the paperwork, you can claim them again in May.
The second one is especially common. E-9 workers who changed workplaces and H-2 workers who switched jobs end up with two or more withholding tax receipts in a single year. The workplace-change procedure itself is covered separately in E-9 workplace change.
📌 Important: Income Tax Act Article 73(1) lists 12 categories of exemption from the final return requirement. Having only employment income where the employer completed year-end settlement, or having only retirement income, falls in here. But don't jump to "so I must have to file" just because you're not on the list. It depends on the types of income you have, how many workplaces you had during the year, and whether your employer completed year-end settlement — so leave the determination to ☎1588-0560 or the district tax office covering your address.
Hometax is Korean-only — the four routes, and which ones work in English
Here's the picture based on the National Tax Service guidebook. There are four routes, and only ② and ④ work in English from start to finish.
| Route | Language | What you need | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| ① Hometax electronic filing | Korean, per the National Tax Service guidebook | An authentication method tied to your alien registration number (joint certificate, simple authentication, etc.) | You have to read the screens and the tax terminology in Korean |
| ② Mailing the English-language forms | English | Attached Form No. 40 (1), (4), (5), (6) from Resources > Forms on the National Tax Service English website, plus attachments | Round-trip mail takes time, and you have to log on to check whether the forms are still posted |
| ③ Visiting your district tax office | Help from counter staff | Withholding tax receipt, alien registration card, Korean bank account | Interpretation is not guaranteed |
| ④ ☎1588-0560 consultation | English | Your own income and employment history | It's a consultation line, not a filing intake line |
Route ② lets you skip the trip to the tax office. Fill out the English forms, mail them with the attachments to the head of the district tax office having jurisdiction over your place of tax payment, and they're accepted. That said, we weren't able to log on to the National Tax Service English website and verify that the forms are still posted at that location. Open the page and check before you prepare your envelope.
The real barrier with route ① isn't language — it's logging in. Hometax electronic filing requires identity verification based on your alien registration number. If you don't have an alien registration card yet, or haven't set up an authentication method, you can't even get into the screens. We also weren't able to confirm the language support in Sontax (the mobile Hometax app) this time, so don't build your plan around the app alone.
Tip: Language support on the Hometax screens can change over time. The above quotes what the National Tax Service wrote in its guidebook, so when filing season arrives, go to www.hometax.go.kr yourself and see how it looks now.
What you need in hand before you file
Three things get you started: your employment income withholding tax receipt, your alien registration card, and a Korean bank account.
Your employer issues the withholding tax receipt. The National Tax Service also advises anyone preparing to file before departure to request it from their employer before going to the tax office, and to bring it along with their alien registration card. You have to request it even from a company you've already left — and this is where a lot of people get stuck.
There's a timing issue too. The deadline for submitting payment statements for employment income, retirement income, and so on is March 10 of the year following the year the payment was made (Income Tax Act Article 164). The National Tax Service notes that "until the payer submits the payment statement to the National Tax Service, an individual income earner's withholding details cannot be verified through the National Tax Service." Meaning: if you're leaving Korea between January and March, you can't substitute an NTS lookup — you have to get the paper directly from your employer.
If you've lost contact with the company or been refused, don't wrestle with it alone. It's faster to make the request through the interpretation-supported channels listed in labor help desks for foreign residents.
When and where to file
The period is May 1 to May 31 (Income Tax Act Article 70(1)). However, if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday (including substitute holidays), or on Labor Day, the deadline moves to the next day (Framework Act on National Taxes Article 5(1)). In practice, for the 2025 tax year, May 31 fell on a Sunday, so the filing deadline ran to June 1. It changes year to year, so don't memorize a specific year's date — check that year's National Tax Service notice.
You file with the district tax office covering your registered address. Income Tax Act Article 6 sets a resident's place of tax payment as their domicile as a rule, or their place of residence if they have no domicile.
Caution: Here's a problem unique to foreign residents. If you moved but never reported the change of residence, your registered address and where you actually live don't match, and you end up at the wrong district tax office. The National Tax Service says a return filed at a non-jurisdictional office is forwarded to the office with jurisdiction over your place of tax payment for processing — but that adds time. If your address has changed, finish the change-of-residence report first.
Is the 19% flat rate good for me?
Under Article 18-2 of the Restriction of Special Taxation Act, foreign workers may elect a flat rate under which the tax amount is employment income multiplied by 19/100. It sounds like a guaranteed win, but the conditions attached are heavy.
| Item | Basic rates (progressive) | 19% flat rate |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory basis | Income Tax Act Article 55(1) | Restriction of Special Taxation Act Article 18-2(2) |
| Rate structure | An 8-bracket progressive scale starting at 6% on a tax base of 14 million KRW or less / 840,000 KRW + 15% of the excess for 14 million–50 million KRW / 6.24 million KRW + 24% of the excess for 50 million–88 million KRW | Employment income × 19% |
| Deductions and reductions | Non-taxable income, income deductions, tax reductions, and tax credits all apply | None apply at all (Article 18-2(3)) |
| Aggregation into global income | Aggregated | That employment income is not aggregated |
| Eligibility | No separate requirements | As of 2026-08: first provision of labor in Korea on or before Dec 31, 2026, and within 20 years from the first tax year of employment |
The third row is the crux. Choose the flat rate and non-taxable income, income deductions, tax reductions, and tax credits all drop out at once. If your tax base sits in the bracket at 14 million KRW or below, the basic rate is 6% while the flat rate is 19% — so for workers without large incomes, it can actually work against you.
That's why the National Tax Service won't declare either option better. It says only: "It varies depending on the individual taxpayer's total salary level, the applicable income deduction and tax credit items, and so on. Therefore, please calculate the tax under the progressive rates and under the flat rate yourself, compare them, and then choose." This article won't recommend one either. Run the numbers both ways and take the lower one — that's the only sure method.
Even if you couldn't submit the flat-rate application at year-end settlement and therefore didn't get it applied, the door isn't shut. The National Tax Service advises that when you file your final return, you can attach the "Application for Flat Tax Rate for Foreign Workers" to the Report on Income and Tax Deductions for Wage & Salary Income Earners and submit it to the head of the district tax office having jurisdiction over your place of tax payment (same guidebook, Q24). Confirm the form and attachment requirements once more at ☎126 before you file.
If you missed May or filed incorrectly
Missing the deadline doesn't close the door. The route depends on your situation.
| Situation | Route | Basis and deadline | What comes with it |
|---|---|---|---|
| You didn't file at all | Late filing | Framework Act on National Taxes Article 45-3(1) — until the head of the competent tax office determines and notifies the tax base and tax amount | Penalty for failure to file, plus penalty for late payment |
| You overpaid or missed a deduction | Request for correction | Framework Act on National Taxes Article 45-2(1) — within 5 years after the statutory filing deadline | The office head notifies you of the result within 2 months of receiving the request |
| You only did year-end settlement and a deduction was left out | Request for correction (withheld amounts) | Framework Act on National Taxes Article 45-2(5) — covers the tax base and tax amount stated on the withholding tax receipt | Same procedure as above |
Two separate penalties apply. The penalty for failure to file is 20/100 of the unreported tax payable; for failure to file due to fraudulent acts it's 40/100, and 60/100 for fraudulent acts in offshore transactions (Framework Act on National Taxes Article 47-2(1)). On top of that comes the late-payment penalty; the statute delegates the interest rate to Presidential Decree, and as of 2026-08 the National Tax Service states 0.022% per day from the day after the payment deadline until the day of voluntary payment (Framework Act on National Taxes Article 47-4).
The sooner you pay, the less you owe. Framework Act on National Taxes Article 48(2)2 provides for reducing the failure-to-file penalty depending on when the late filing is made (50/100 if within one month after the statutory filing deadline, and so on), but we weren't able to secondary-source these reduction rates against National Tax Service materials. You'll need to confirm the reduction amounts at ☎126 or your district tax office — all that's clear is the direction: the later you are, the worse it gets.
National Pension lump-sum refund tax is not recovered here
This one circulates in a distorted form, so let's set it straight. When tax has been withheld from a National Pension lump-sum refund, the May global income tax return is not the mechanism for getting it back.
A lump sum paid under the National Pension Act is retirement income under Income Tax Act Article 22. And under Income Tax Act Article 4, retirement income is not aggregated into global income; it's classified and taxed separately. For a resident whose only income is retirement income, the tax liability is settled by withholding, so there's no final return obligation either (Income Tax Act Article 73(1)2). In other words, even if you show up in May to file a global income tax return, this isn't income there is to aggregate.
Under the statutes, the route is not a global income tax return but a request for correction (Framework Act on National Taxes Article 45-2, particularly paragraph 5). That said, we weren't able to confirm this time whether the actual counter is the National Pension Service, the district tax office with jurisdiction over the withholding agent's place of tax payment, or a treaty-based non-taxation/exemption application route. For your own case, bring your payment records and check with ☎1588-0560 and ☎1355 (National Pension Service). The lump-sum refund claim procedure itself is covered in how to claim your National Pension lump-sum refund.
Where to ask
Don't mix up tax desks and immigration desks. They're different places.
- ☎1588-0560 — the National Tax Service's English-language helpline for foreigners. Weekdays 09:00–18:00, excluding 11:30–13:00. Whether languages other than English are available is unconfirmed.
- ☎126 — National Tax Consultation Center (no area code needed). Weekdays 09:00–18:00.
- The district tax office covering your address — return intake and counter consultation. Interpretation is not guaranteed.
- ☎1345 — Immigration Contact Center. Immigration matters like visa status, visas, and change-of-residence reports go here.
Caution: ☎1588-0560 running weekdays 09:00–18:00 (excluding 11:30–13:00) means it collides head-on with manufacturing and construction work hours. Line up a time when you can actually make the call. The National Tax Service also mentions the option of hiring a tax agent, but this article does not recommend or broker any particular firm.
If you're about to leave Korea — don't wait for May
This is the most time-critical part of the article. When a resident who is required to file a final return departs Korea, they must file the tax base for the tax period in which the departure date falls by the day before departure (Income Tax Act Article 74(4)).
And if you depart between January 1 and May 31 in order to move your domicile or place of residence abroad, you have to file two years' worth at once. That's because you're leaving before May, the filing deadline for the immediately preceding tax period, has arrived. Temporary departures where you'll return — a trip home, a business trip — don't count here. The National Tax Service's example makes it clear: Entry 2024-02-01 · Departure 2025-04-30 → file 2024 and 2025 income tax by the day before departure.
The real problem is that it collides with your departure prep and you have no time. It's safest to put in your request for the withholding tax receipt with your employer about a month before you leave.
📌 Important: Framework Act on National Taxes Article 82(1) and (3) require that when you have no domicile or place of residence in Korea, or are moving your domicile or place of residence abroad, you appoint a tax manager to handle national tax matters and report that appointment to the head of the competent tax office. However, we weren't able to confirm what form and deadline tax offices require in practice. If it looks like you'll have matters to handle after you leave, mention this provision when you ask your district tax office in advance.
Refunds are paid only into a Korean account
Get the order wrong on your departure checklist and you won't receive money that's yours. The National Tax Service guidebook puts it this way: "Refunds cannot be remitted to certain foreign financial institutions (e.g, HSBC). Refunds also cannot be made to bank accounts opened at banks outside Korea." In other words, refunds can't be remitted to an account opened abroad, and some foreign financial institutions are excluded too.
That's why the National Tax Service advises foreign residents who leave soon after claiming a refund to keep a Korean bank account open to receive it. Translated into packing order, it looks like this.
- Save closing your account for last. Settle the passbook and turn in the cards first and your refund has nowhere to go.
- Sign up for internet banking in advance. You'll need it to check the balance and send it home after you leave. Account opening and maintenance conditions are covered in opening a bank account as a foreign resident.
- Before closing the account, check first with your district tax office or ☎1588-0560 whether a refund is coming. That one call is the cheapest insurance there is.
Give yourself a wide window on refund timing. The National Tax Service guidebook says typically one month after the end of the filing period — generally around July 1 for national tax, and around August 20 for local income tax. Another section of the same guidebook says "remitted by the end of June," so it's hard to pin down a single date. It also states that for permanent departures where the return was filed by the day before departure, the refund remittance generally happens after the departure date. The filing and payment procedure for individual local income tax is separate from global income tax, and we weren't able to confirm it this time, so please check that separately.
Tax filing itself has nothing to do with LACHA (we don't fill out returns or handle refunds for you). But there is one point where the order of operations overlaps with getting ready to leave. To receive a refund you have to keep a Korean account alive — and for those last few weeks you also need rides back and forth between the tax office and the airport. LACHA is a transport-and-payment super app for foreign visitors and residents that works right away with no Korean identity verification, so you can book KTX, intercity buses, taxis, the Airport Railroad, and transit cards in one place, and pay with overseas wallets like Alipay and WeChat Pay or with a foreign card. Lining up the taxi to the district tax office and the KTX to the airport ahead of time makes those last few days — when documents and luggage get tangled together — a little simpler.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. I already did year-end settlement. Do I have to file again in May? If your only income is employment income and your employer completed year-end settlement, you often fall under one of the final-return exemptions in Income Tax Act Article 73(1) and don't need to file. But it's a different story if you had two or more workplaces during the year. Article 73(2) doesn't apply the exemption in that case, and requires you to combine the employment income from each workplace and file (excluding cases where there's no additional tax due because of a combined year-end settlement or the like). There are 12 exemption categories and it varies by type of income, so confirm where you land with ☎1588-0560 or your district tax office.
Q2. My former employer won't give me the withholding tax receipt. The withholding tax receipt is the starting point for filing, so there's no good workaround. Request it from the company first by text or email so there's a record, and if there's no response, it's faster to make the request through a labor help desk for foreign residents with an interpreter. For reference, since the payment statement deadline is March 10 of the following year (Income Tax Act Article 164), an individual's withholding details can't be looked up on the National Tax Service side before then either. Especially if you're leaving between January and March, there's no real alternative to getting it directly from the company.
Q3. Is there really no English screen on Hometax? The National Tax Service wrote in its English guidebook for foreigners: "홈택스는 한글만 이용 가능하며 / Hometax service is available only in Korean." The four-language notice distributed in April 2026 also spells out the Hometax path using the Korean menu names as-is. That said, we weren't able to log on to Hometax during filing season and visually confirm the language options on screen, so check for yourself at www.hometax.go.kr before you file. If you need to handle everything in English, mailing in the English forms from the National Tax Service English website is the realistic route.
Q4. Can I file after I've gone home? As a rule, finish before you leave. Income Tax Act Article 74(4) requires a resident who must file a final return and who is departing Korea to file the tax base for the tax period containing the departure date by the day before departure. And if you depart between January 1 and May 31 in order to move your domicile or place of residence abroad, you have to file two years' worth — including the immediately preceding tax period — by the day before departure (temporary departures don't count). Framework Act on National Taxes Article 82 does provide for appointing and reporting a tax manager, but we couldn't confirm what form and deadline are required in practice, so once your departure date is set, contact your district tax office first.
Q5. I don't think I owe any tax — do I still have to file? Owing no tax and having no filing obligation are two different things. The filing obligation turns on your resident/non-resident status, the types of income you have, how many workplaces you had during the year, and whether your employer completed year-end settlement. On top of that, if you overpaid, you have to file to get it back. Even if the deadline has passed, you can make a late filing until the head of the competent tax office determines and notifies your assessment (Framework Act on National Taxes Article 45-3(1)), and if you filed but left out a deduction, you can make a request for correction within 5 years after the statutory filing deadline (Article 45-2(1)).
Note: This article is for general information purposes and is not legal or tax advice. The statute citations, tax rates, penalty rates, deadlines, and amounts in the text are current as of 2026-08, drawn from the Income Tax Act, the Framework Act on National Taxes, and the Restriction of Special Taxation Act, along with the National Tax Service's Individual Income Tax and Benefit Guide for Foreigners 2025 and the National Tax Service's four-language "Guide to Global Income Tax Filing for Foreigners" dated April 30, 2026. The guidebook we obtained is the 2025 edition, so procedures or wording may have changed in the 2026 edition; and language support on the Hometax screens, whether the English forms are still posted, the penalty reduction rates for late filing, the individual local income tax procedure, and tax manager practice at tax offices could not be primary-source verified, so we've flagged them as items needing confirmation. Tax law is amended every year and the filing deadline shifts from year to year, so before you file, be sure to re-check on the National Tax Service website, at ☎126, at ☎1588-0560, or with the district tax office covering your registered address. LACHA does not file taxes or process refunds on your behalf.
