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Business operations

Business Operations

Taxation

The tax system in Korea is categorized into national tax and local tax depending on the authority of taxation. National tax includes corporate tax, income tax and customs duty on imported goods. Local tax imposed by local governments includes acquisition tax, registration and license tax and property tax. In particular, foreign-invested companies should be mindful of transfer pricing regarding international transactions between special related parties including foreign investors, and the thin capitalization system on debt.

Customs Clearance

Customs clearance refers to the import, export, or return of goods pursuant to the procedures prescribed by the Customs Act. Import clearance refers to a series of customs processes including import declaration to a customs director, acceptance of the declaration by the director with its lawfulness, issuance of the certificate of import declaration, and shipping of the imported goods. Meanwhile, export clearance refers to the process of declaring the export of goods to customs and accepting permission of export and loading cargo. Return refers to the sending back of goods carried into Korea without import declaration to the country from where they were sent, with its processes called return clearance.

HR & Labor

When hiring workers, a contract shall be drawn up to set out matters concerning wages, working hours, holidays and leave, termination, etc., and the four major insurances, severance payment, etc., should be guaranteed, thus fulfilling the employer's duty for safety and preservation during the working period. Recently, the government has been working to improve Korea’s long work hours through a revision of the law on working hours in order to ensure workers' work-life balance, protect non-regular workers, and ban harassment at work.

VISA

In principle, a foreigner should obtain a visa in advance in order to enter the Republic of Korea. Unauthorized entry and departure is not permitted even for a person who obtained a visa or is eligible for no visa entry, which means every person must go through the immigration declaration process at the border, airport and seaport, and entry may prohibited because of a failure to meet any of the requirements therein. In addition, a foreigner who intends to stay in Korea for more than 90 days should file for alien registration at the immigration office in the jurisdiction of the place of residence or regional immigration service.

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