Changes in the Tax Exemption for Irish citizens?

[eoghan82]

I was told today by my co-teacher that while Irish citizens were exempt from paying income tax in 2009, it has changed for 2010 and so I will probably have to pay tax for the full year in a lump sum. If the income tax is 10% that will come in at over 2 million won. Are there any Irish teachers out there who have been paying income tax this year or who have heard anything about this?
(Of course all week my co-teacher has been talking about a "special" tax reduction I can get and having me bring in a number of documents. Then she waited till after the last class we would teacher together before my two week christmas holiday to tell me. A classic tactic of hers - I always get any bad news on Friday afternoon)

[mossy2008]

hey i never heard anything about this......
i will ask my co teacher.....

[confusedsafferinkorea]

Most countries have a two year agreement with Korea and not based on actual years  (2009 etc). I am not sure if it has changed for Irish but as far as I know the 2 year agreement (if your country has one) is still in force.

[mossy2008]

i wish we could get our pension back...
i am leavin in april :(

[Daejeon]

You never get the 2 year tax exemption without notifying your country, and providing the required documents to the Korean Tax agency.

We get a discounted tax rate for the first 2 years if these tasks haven't been performed.  From 2010 it seems the discount on the tax rate will no longer be applied.

Korea levies any tax under payment quarterly.

[eoghan82]

Hey Daejeon - I have a two year tax residency cert from my country, which should be valid for another 9 months so there is no problem there. When you say "from 2010" you mean from the start of 2010? Because my school hasnt taken any tax off in quarterly payments this year and I presumed my tax status was unchanged.

[Daejeon]

They only take out any tax that wasn't paid.  Since it is all automated, this is rarely the case.

If you ask for a copy of your earnings summary, you will see that you infact are taxed.  It is a tiny amount.

When new laws are introduced, there are usually clauses to cover those who are following old statutes.  Being foreigners, we don't get the usual benefits of fair treatment.  So more than likely they will across the board change for all.

I am talking about the 2010/11 tax year.

[ESmith4]

When new laws are introduced, there are usually clauses to cover those who are following old statutes.  Being foreigners, we don't get the usual benefits of fair treatment.  So more than likely they will across the board change for all.

Any idea where we could get info in English about this? From your statement above it sounds like the 2 year tax exemption for US/Canada/others could change. Or I could be missreading that...