Taxes in Korea for Foreigners
Last verified: September 22, 2026 · Source-verified
There is no general “departure tax refund” that every foreign worker receives when leaving Korea.
Your tax position depends on what happened before departure: final salary, employer year-end settlement, freelance income, tax already withheld, an unfinished May return, a pending refund, or a continuing Korean tax obligation.
Before closing out your life in Korea, save the documents that prove what you earned and what tax was already paid. They are much harder to reconstruct from abroad.
Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 · Photo: Arne Müseler / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
You are leaving an employer:
Get your wage withholding receipt and confirm how the employer handled your final wage tax settlement.
You received freelance or other income:
Check whether a later Global Income Tax return is still required.
A tax refund is expected:
Confirm the refund account before closing or changing the account used for Korean tax refunds.
You are moving your address or residence abroad with Korean tax matters still open:
Check whether you need to appoint and report a Korean tax manager.
You may need Korean income proof later:
Save your receipts, return confirmations and tax certificates now.
1. Leaving a job and leaving Korea are two separate tax events
Your final day at work can trigger a wage-tax settlement. Your departure from Korea can also change your tax-residency position if you are actually moving your domicile or place of residence abroad.
Do not merge those two questions.
Employment termination, severance rights and visa procedures belong to the labor and immigration process. This guide only covers the tax records and unfinished tax work you should preserve before leaving.
2. Your employer normally settles wage tax when you retire
Korea's Income Tax Act requires the withholding agent to perform year-end settlement when paying the salary for the month in which an employee retires.
That calculation compares the income tax due on your wage income up to retirement with tax already withheld during the year.
Request your 근로소득 원천징수영수증 — Receipt for Wage & Salary Income Tax Withholding.
If you received taxable retirement income, also keep the relevant 퇴직소득 원천징수영수증.
A refund or extra tax at this stage depends on your actual annual wage-tax calculation. Departure itself does not create the refund.
3. Save these tax records before departure
| Record | Why keep it |
|---|---|
| 근로소득 원천징수영수증 | Shows wage income and Korean tax withholding |
| 퇴직소득 원천징수영수증 | Shows retirement-income tax where applicable |
| 사업소득 원천징수 records | Useful for freelance/business-income filing |
| Tax return + filing receipt | Proves what was actually filed |
| Tax payment records | Useful for later proof and foreign tax credits |
| 소득금액증명 / Certificate of Income | Useful later for official proof of Korean income |
Keep PDF copies outside your Korean phone. A document stored only inside a company portal can disappear when your employee account is closed.
4. A May tax return may still remain after you leave
Employer settlement can finish ordinary wage income, but it does not automatically close other income.
You may still need to review a Global Income Tax return if you had:
- freelance or business income;
- wages from multiple employers that were not fully combined;
- salary plus another comprehensive income category;
- foreign income that belongs in your Korean return.
If you leave Korea before the next filing season, do not interpret physical departure as cancellation of that filing obligation.
5. Moving abroad can change your Korean tax period
A flight out of Korea for a holiday does not automatically make you a nonresident.
Where a resident actually transfers a domicile or place of residence abroad and becomes a nonresident, the Income Tax Act provides that the resident tax period can run from January 1 through the departure date.
The Enforcement Decree also states that a resident becomes a nonresident from the day after departing for the overseas transfer of the domicile or place of residence, or from the day after another statutory nonresident condition arises.
Apply this only after the residency facts are clear. Temporary travel and permanent relocation are not the same tax event.
6. If Korean tax work remains, check the tax-manager rule
Korea's Framework Act on National Taxes provides that a taxpayer who has no domicile or place of residence in Korea, or who moves the domicile or residence abroad, must appoint a 납세관리인 — tax manager — to handle national-tax matters.
The appointment must be reported to the competent district tax office.
This matters most when a filing, assessment, business, refund dispute or other Korean national-tax issue will continue after your move. Resolve it before departure rather than discovering from abroad that official tax correspondence still needs a Korean contact.
7. Check your refund before closing the tax trail
A Korean income-tax refund can arise from employer settlement or an income-tax return when tax already paid exceeds the final liability.
HomeTax currently provides:
→ 환급금 상세조회 — Refund details
→ 환급계좌개설 신고/변경 신고 — Register or change refund account
→ 국세 환급금찾기 — Find unclaimed national-tax refunds
HomeTax states that the refund account written on the tax return takes priority over separately registered refund accounts.
If you expect a refund, confirm the destination account before changing your Korean banking arrangements. Bank-account closure itself belongs to the Banking series; this tax article only checks where the tax refund will go.
8. The NTS center at Incheon Airport can handle tax work
The National Tax Service operates a taxpayer service center inside Incheon International Airport.
Its published services include issuing many tax certificates and accepting Comprehensive Income Tax and other returns that can be filed at a tax office.
Use this as a backup service, not as a reason to postpone a complicated tax problem until the morning of your flight. Certificates requiring review can take more preparation than an immediately issued document.
9. Keep one offline tax folder after departure
Save one folder containing:
- your Korean identification number used for tax records;
- all withholding receipts;
- submitted returns and submission confirmations;
- tax-payment and refund records;
- foreign-tax documents if double taxation is involved;
- your former employer or payer's contact information;
- district tax-office or tax-manager contact details if anything remains open.
Also confirm an authentication method you can still use for HomeTax after leaving. Do this while your Korean phone and other local credentials still work.
Video: final wage-tax settlement for foreign workers
This official National Tax Service video explains Korea's year-end settlement for foreign workers. For someone leaving an employer during the year, the current statute requires settlement when the salary for the retirement month is paid.
Official sources checked
- Income Tax Act — Article 137, Year-End Settlement of Wage Income
- Enforcement Decree — When Resident / Nonresident Status Changes
- Framework Act on National Taxes — Article 82, Tax Manager
- National Tax Service — Withholding Receipts and English Tax Certificates
- NTS Incheon Airport Center — Requesting Certificates
- NTS Incheon Airport Center — Filing Returns