Tax in South Korea
See what South Korea's tax rules do to your property portfolio.
What Freeholt models for property, income and retirement in South Korea, and what it does not.
Free to start. No card. Rules reviewed 22 August 2026.
Modelled here
- Tax on rental income
- Capital gains on a sale
- Duty on purchase (approximate)
- Annual property or land tax
- Income tax beyond the rent
- Dividends, interest and share sales
KRW · Rates as at 22 August 2026 · Estimates, not advice
Rental income is taxed at 6.6 to 49.5% progressive (10% local surtax included). Sale gains stack on income at the same scale. Multi home surcharges (+20/30pp) return from Dec 2026. Since Aug 2025 the Seoul capital region is a foreign land transaction permit zone (prior approval + 2 year residence).
How rental income is taxed in South Korea
For a resident owner: Progressive rates from 6.6% to 49.5%, stacked on other income in this country. The top rate of 49.5% applies above ₩1,000,000,000. For an owner living abroad and renting this out: Progressive rates from 6.6% to 49.5%, stacked on other income in this country. The top rate of 49.5% applies above ₩1,000,000,000.
Interest and losses
Mortgage interest is deductible against the rent. A rental loss is ring fenced: it carries forward against future rental income rather than reducing other income now.
Capital gains on a sale
Gains are added to income and taxed at the marginal income rate.
Annual property tax while holding
About 0.3% a year on the property value.
What it costs to buy
Purchase duty here is more than a single rate, and Freeholt prices the published rules rather than an average. Acquisition tax 1 to 3% (plus surtaxes); heavy 8/12% rates for multi home buyers; foreign buyers in the capital region need a permit.
Can a foreign buyer purchase here?
A permit is needed, and the answer depends on where the property is. Baseline notification system. But since 26 Aug 2025 nearly the whole Seoul capital region is a foreign land transaction PERMIT zone (prior approval, move in within 4 months, reside 2+ years).
Income tax in South Korea, beyond the rent
Progressive, up to 45%. The bands run Up to 14,000,000 at 6%; 14,000,000 to 50,000,000 at 15%; 50,000,000 to 88,000,000 at 24%; 88,000,000 to 150,000,000 at 35%; 150,000,000 to 300,000,000 at 38%; 300,000,000 to 500,000,000 at 40%; 500,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 at 42%; Above 1,000,000,000 at 45%. Rental profit joins this ladder. Figures in KRW, as verified 29 August 2026.
Dividends, interest and share sales
How South Korea taxes investment income. For dividends: Flat 15.4%. For interest: Flat 15.4%. For share sale gains: Not taxed.
Worth knowing about tax in South Korea
Korea's 15.4% already contains the local income tax. Do not add another 10% on top; that rule applies to bare national rates only.
How Freeholt models South Korea
Every rate above is priced from Freeholt's own table for South Korea and runs through the whole projection: rental income, a modelled sale and the annual holding costs all use the same figures. They cannot be edited yet, so a position that differs from the defaults has to be read with that in mind. The estimate assumes an individual owner rather than a company or trust, and where a rule is not modelled it is listed below rather than quietly priced at zero.
What running this property costs
In Korea this covers property tax (0.1 to 0.5% + education surtax; the CRET comprehensive holding tax above ~KRW 900m), building management fees, insurance and management.
How borrowing works here
LTV limits are strict in regulated areas; jeonse (deposit lease) structures dominate rentals.
What actually happened here
This country's own record, one year at a time. Nothing on this page is borrowed from another country. Move across a chart to read a year.
Recent rule changes in South Korea
- 2027-01-01 An easing of the multi home capital gains surcharge was announced on 3 Aug 2026. It is not enacted, so the surcharge in force since 9 May 2026 is what the projection prices.(proposed only, never priced into your figures)
- 2026-05-10 The multi home CGT surcharge suspension ENDED at midnight on 10 May 2026. +20pp (2 homes) / +30pp (3+) in adjusted areas are back in force (grace for pre 9 May contracts closing within 4 to 6 months). COMPUTED from the sale date via a dated revision (KR home count approximates the household count; adjustment area geography assumed).
- Acquisition tax easing for multi home heavy rates (8/12%) under taskforce discussion (Oct 2025). Not law.(proposed only, never priced into your figures)
What Freeholt models here
- ModelledTax on rental income
- Resident and non resident rates, with interest and losses treated under the local rule.
- ModelledCapital gains on a sale
- Priced in the year of the sale under the rules of that year.
- ApproximateDuty on purchase
- The published scale is priced from the rules in force, which differ by band and are summarised here.
- ModelledAnnual property or land tax
- Charged every year the property is held.
- ModelledIncome tax beyond the rent
- Salary and other income, stacked with the rent.
- ModelledDividends, interest and share sales
- Investment income and gains, with the local allowances.
- Not yetRetirement savings
- Not modelled for this country yet.
- Not yetInheritance and what happens on death
- Not modelled for this country yet.
What Freeholt does not model here
- Inheritance and estate tax
- Treaty relief between this country and the owner's country of residence
What the figures above leave out (8)
- Korea's local income tax is 10% of the national tax, not of income, and it is not included: the ladder here is national only, so the real bill is exactly 10% higher than shown, and the 45% top rate is really 49.5%. Multiply the figure by 1.1 for the all in amount, but never apply that to the investment figures, whose 15.4% already contains it.
- Korea taxes interest and dividends at a final 15.4% only while they total ₩20,000,000 or less a year. Above that the whole amount is pulled onto the progressive income ladder at up to 49.5% including local tax, a cliff rather than a taper, and that switch is not modelled. So anyone over the threshold is understated, by up to the difference between 15.4% and 49.5% of all their financial income.
- Only the taxpayer's own ₩1,500,000 basic deduction is taken off. Korea gives a further ₩1,500,000 for each co resident spouse or dependant with under ₩1,000,000 of their own income, and that is not applied because nothing here knows the household, so anyone with a qualifying spouse or dependants is overstated.
- Korea's additional standard deductions (₩2,000,000 for a disabled person, ₩1,000,000 for anyone aged 70 or over, ₩1,000,000 for a single parent and ₩500,000 for a female head of household) are not taken off, because nothing here knows those facts about the taxpayer. If any applies, the tax is overstated; a taxpayer with none of them is unaffected.
- Korea's employment income deduction, which scales with wages and comes off before the ladder runs, is not applied because no schedule for it was sourced. A wage earner's tax is therefore overstated by the whole ladder charge on that deduction; a self employed or business income filer, who does not get it, is unaffected.
- From 2026 Korea lets a shareholder elect separate taxation of dividends from qualifying high payout listed companies, at 14% up to ₩20,000,000 and 20% up to ₩300,000,000, with the bands above that disputed between sources. The election is not modelled: it turns on the issuing company and on a filing the shareholder must make, and taking it forfeits the ordinary dividend tax credit. So for someone who would elect it this is overstated where the election beats what they would otherwise pay, and understated where the 15.4% charged here is below the election's own rate.
- Korea's zero on listed share gains is the retail investor's. A large shareholder (1%, 2% or 4% of a company depending on the market, or ₩5 billion of value) pays 20% or 25% on gains, and that carve out is not modelled even where the holder says they are one, so a genuine large shareholder is understated all the way down to nil.
- Korea charges a securities transaction tax of roughly 0.15% to 0.18% of the sale proceeds (of the price, not the gain) on listed share trades, and it is not included. A Korean share sale's total cost is understated by that much, even though the income tax on a retail gain is genuinely nil.
Coverage deepens country by country. Every figure is an estimate, not advice.
Compare with another country
Each page is built from the same table the app runs on, so the figures line up side by side.
Compare South Korea with another country — rent, gains, annual tax and duty, side by side.
Questions people ask
- Does Freeholt model South Korea property tax?
- Yes. Rental income tax, capital gains on a sale, duty on purchase and annual property or land tax are priced from Freeholt's own rate table for South Korea. Duty on purchase carries a simplification that the page names beside the figure. The rates are not editable yet, so one that differs in a particular case cannot be overridden. Every figure is an estimate, not advice.
- How is rental income from South Korea taxed if I live somewhere else?
- Progressive rates from 6.6% to 49.5%, stacked on other income in this country. The top rate of 49.5% applies above ₩1,000,000,000. Tax may also be due in the country of residence, with credit for what was paid here. Estimates only, not advice.
- What are the South Korea figures as at?
- The rate table for South Korea was last reviewed on 22 August 2026. Freeholt date stamps every country rather than implying all of them were checked on the same day. Estimates only, not advice.
Model a property in South Korea alongside everything else you own: see the year your portfolio starts paying you back.