South Korea’s comprehensive real estate tax is set to rise for nonresident owners of a single home next year, according to materials the Ministry of Economy and Finance submitted to the National Assembly, reported by Chosunbiz. The change comes from switching the deduction-eligibility basis from how long an owner has held a property to how long they have actually resided in it.
Under the government’s tax reform plan as currently submitted, a nonresident one-household owner of an apartment officially assessed at KRW 3 billion (market value roughly KRW 4.3 billion) would pay KRW 12.038 million in comprehensive real estate tax next year, up KRW 4.291 million from this year’s KRW 7.747 million — before tax credits and the 150% burden cap, assuming an owner under age 60. Smaller increases apply further down the scale: an apartment assessed at KRW 1.5 billion rises from KRW 691,000 to KRW 806,000, and one assessed at KRW 2 billion rises from KRW 2.275 million to KRW 2.774 million.
The increase is smaller than it might have been. The government had also proposed cutting the basic deduction for nonresident single-home owners from KRW 1.2 billion to KRW 900 million, which would have added a further KRW 3.327 million to the example above — but reversed that specific cut on September 1 after public backlash, while keeping the residency-basis switch in place.
References
Chosunbiz – Korea hikes property tax for nonresident single-home owners
