If you have financial accounts outside of Korea, and the total sum of every accounts exceeds KRW 500mil on any month-end, you may wish to check whether you are responsible for FFAR (Foreign Financial Account Reporting) in Korea.
The financial accounts include not only personal bank’s savings account but also Depository Receipts of foreign market listed stocks, insurance accounts and others.
Also, if you own 100% of a company which is established outside of Korea and the company has financial accounts with a total balance of more than KRW 500mil last year, then you have to report FFAR as well.
National Tax Service of Korea has been keen on collecting overseas financial data as it easily becomes a means of tax evasion.
If you have stayed in Korea longer than 5 years for the past 10 years and you have financial accounts with a total balance greater than KRW 500mil, please fill out the FORM 45 on Hometax. Failure of proper reporting leads to 10% penalty of unreported balance amount.
Please feel free to ask any questions on this posting to myself.
Written by Ara Jung (CTA)
All information provided is of limited scope and not exhaustive or comprehensive of any subject. It is not intended to be legal, and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals