Korea property tax 9/2026: pay 16–30/9, cards, penalties

Korea property tax payment period 2026 — 16/9 through 30/9 (Wed)

Property tax is levied each year on anyone who owns land, buildings, housing and the like as of 1/6 (Local Tax Act Article 114). The year's tax is paid in two instalments, in 7/2026 and 9/2026; the 9/2026 bill carries the full land portion and the remaining half of the housing portion (Article 115). The payment deadline for the 9/2026 bill in 2026 is Wednesday 30/9/2026.

The housing portion comes out in halves, half in 7/2026 and half in 9/2026. However, if that year's housing portion is 200,000 won or less, a city/gun/gu ordinance may levy it all at once in 7/2026. The Gangnam-gu district tax ordinance in Seoul and the Taean-gun county tax ordinance are set up this way.

By law, the tax bill must be issued at the latest 5 days before the payment period begins (Article 116). Seoul announced that it sends out 9/2026 paper bills and electronic bills in sequence from 10/9/2026. If the payment deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the next day becomes the deadline (Framework Act on Local Taxes Article 24).

How to look up and pay Korea property tax — Wetax·Smart Wetax·Seoul ETAX·CD/ATM

Wetax·Smart Wetax — look up and pay property tax for every local government nationwide. Payment is by bank transfer, credit card or mobile payment apps, and the payment hours are 00:30~23:30. After logging in you see the bills issued to you, and you can also pay with the electronic payment number.

Seoul ETAX·STAX — Seoul property tax can also be paid on the ETAX website and the STAX app. Seoul ETAX lists KakaoPay, PAYCO, SSGPAY, Samsung Pay, Naver Pay, L.pay, Toss Pay and app cards as mobile payment apps. You can also scan the QR code on the paper bill with the STAX, KakaoPay, Naver Pay or Toss Pay app to pay.

Virtual account — transfer to the virtual account printed on the bill. By Wetax's guidance the payment hours are 00:30~22:00, and if you transfer from another bank the transfer fee is borne by the taxpayer.

Bank CD/ATM — insert your own credit card or bankbook and the property tax bill details appear on screen, so you can pay without the bill. To pay someone else's property tax, enter the electronic payment number. Seoul advised that paying from a CD/ATM by transfer from another bank account carries a 900 won fee.

ARS — Seoul is 1599-3900. Sejong, Taean-gun and Gunpo listed ARS 142211 in their 9/2026 property tax notices.

Even if you did not receive the bill, you can look it up and pay by logging into Wetax or ETAX, or at a CD/ATM with your own card or bankbook. Wetax states that payment cannot be cancelled once it is made.

Korea property tax card payment deals — 9/2026 interest-free and partial interest-free instalments

The 9/2026 local tax card instalment promotions announced by Seoul ETAX and Internet Giro (Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute) are as follows. Most are partial interest-free instalments, where you pay the fees for the first instalments of the total instalment period and the later instalments are waived. With 6-month partial interest-free instalments, for example, you pay the fees for instalments 1~3 and instalments 4~6 are waived.

2~3-month interest-free instalments are given by Woori Card, BC Card and JB Card on payments of 50,000 won or more. KB Kookmin Card excludes the tax category (national and local taxes) from interest-free instalments and gives only partial interest-free instalments. Seoul ETAX notes that local tax card payments are excluded from card point and mileage accrual.

Korea property tax instalments — split over 3 months if over 2,500,000 won

If the property tax payable exceeds 2,500,000 won, you can split part of it over 3 months starting from the day after the payment deadline (Local Tax Act Article 118). The amount you can split is the portion over 2,500,000 won if the tax is 5,000,000 won or less, and at most 50% of the tax if it exceeds 5,000,000 won (Enforcement Decree Article 116). For example, on 4,000,000 won you can split up to 1,500,000 won, and on 8,000,000 won up to 4,000,000 won.

The application must be made by the property tax payment deadline — by 30/9/2026 for the 9/2026 bill. Wetax and Seoul ETAX have a "property tax payment in instalments" (재산세 분할납부 신청) menu.

Payment in kind (property) — if the tax payable exceeds 10,000,000 won, you can apply for payment in kind (property) with real estate inside the jurisdiction (Article 117).

Payment deferral — if a one-home household member is at least 60 years old or has held the home for at least 5 years, meets the income standard (total salary of 70,000,000 won or less in the previous year, and so on), and the home's property tax exceeds 1,000,000 won with no arrears, they can apply for payment deferral (Article 118-2).

Korea property tax late penalty — 3% then 0.66% every month

If property tax is not paid by the bill's payment deadline, 3% of the unpaid tax is added once as the late payment penalty tax (Framework Act on Local Taxes Article 55). After that, 0.66% is added for every month past the deadline, and this monthly penalty tax is added for up to 60 months (Enforcement Decree Article 34).

If the tax per bill and per tax item is under 450,000 won, the monthly 0.66% is not added and only the 3% applies.

How Korea property tax is calculated — officially announced price × fair market value ratio × rate

Tax base — for housing and land, multiply the officially announced price by the fair market value ratio (Local Tax Act Article 110). For 2026 the ratio is 70% for land and buildings and 60% for housing; for a one-home household it is 43% at an officially announced price of 300,000,000 won or less, 44% over 300,000,000 won to 600,000,000 won, and 45% over 600,000,000 won (Enforcement Decree Article 109). For housing, if the tax base exceeds the previous year's tax base amount plus 5% of this year's tax base, only that amount is applied (tax base cap).

Rates — housing is taxed at 0.1~0.4% by tax base bracket, and a one-home household at an officially announced price of 900,000,000 won or less gets the special rate of 0.05~0.35% (Article 111-2). This special-rate provision is valid only for tax obligations arising through 28/12/2026. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced in its 2026 local tax reform plan released on 26/8 that it will extend the special treatment through 2029, and the amendment bill is to be submitted to the National Assembly in 10/2026.

Taxes added on — the urban area surcharge (0.14% of the tax base, in designated areas only), the local education tax (20% of the property tax excluding the urban area surcharge) and the regional resource and facility tax (fire services) on buildings all appear on the bill together. For land and buildings there is a cap keeping the tax from exceeding 150% of the previous year's tax; this cap is not applied to housing (Article 122).

Worked example — a one-home household with an officially announced price of 400,000,000 won has a tax base of 400,000,000 won × 44% = 176,000,000 won. The property tax is 120,000 + (176,000,000 − 150,000,000) × 0.2% = 172,000 won, the same figure as the example in the Ministry of the Interior and Safety press release of 4/2025. In an urban area surcharge area, the urban area surcharge of 246,400 won and the local education tax of 34,400 won are added. Because this is the housing portion, half of this amount comes in 7/2026 and half in 9/2026.

You can calculate property tax in advance with Seoul ETAX's local tax mock calculation (지방세 모의계산). Wetax's local tax pre-calculation (지방세 미리계산) has no property tax item.

Electronic bill·automatic payment discounts and Seoul's notice for foreigners

Applying for electronic bill delivery or automatic payment cuts the tax per bill (Restriction of Special Local Taxation Act Article 92-2). The amount is set by local ordinance within 250~800 won for one of the two and 500~1,600 won for both. Seoul gives 800 won and 1,600 won, Taean-gun and Gunpo 500 won and 1,000 won, and Yeongyang-gun 250 won and 500 won. You must apply by the last day of the month before the month containing the payment deadline for the discount to apply from that bill.

Seoul sent out 4,430,000 property tax bills for the 9/2026 period. It provides translated notices for foreign taxpayers in English, Chinese, Japanese, German, French and Mongolian, and said the 9/2026 foreign taxpayers number 25,400.