South Korea Withholding tax rates
South Korea Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The 4 withholding taxes held run from 15.4% to 22%, cited to National Tax Service (국세청), withholding-tax rate table for domestic-source income of non-residents and foreign corporations where no treaty applies (비거주자 및 외국법인의 국내원천소득, 조세조약이 없는 경우): 이자 (interest) 20%. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
Official source: National Tax Service · Last checked 2026-08-10 · source fingerprint
The withholding taxes South Korea levies on Korean-source payments to foreign corporations and non-resident individuals without a Korean permanent establishment - dividends, interest and royalties - each at its domestic statutory rate before any tax treaty relief. National withholding under Corporate Tax Act art. 98 / Income Tax Act art. 156 carries a local income tax surtax of 10% of the tax withheld. Administered by the National Tax Service.
Compare withholding tax rates across all 28 Asian countries →
| Current value | 15.4–22% across 4 withholding taxes — no single rate |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | National Tax Service (국세청), withholding-tax rate table for domestic-source income of non-residents and foreign corporations where no treaty applies (비거주자 및 외국법인의 국내원천소득, 조세조약이 없는 경우): 이자 (interest) 20% - 채권이자 (bond interest) 14%; 배당 (dividends) 20%; 사용료 (royalties) 20%. Statutory basis: 법인세법 제98조 (Corporate Tax Act art. 98) and 소득세법 제156조 (Income Tax Act art. 156). |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. The national rates (20%, bond interest 14%) are verified from the National Tax Service's own rate table in Korean. The local income tax surtax - 10% of the withheld national tax, under the Local Tax Act (지방세법) special collection rules - is verified from secondary professional sources (PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: 'In addition to this, there is a local income tax of 10% on the WHT liability'); the Local Tax Act text itself was not retrieved. The combined 22%/15.4% figures served as the rates therefore rest on a primary national component and a secondary-confirmed local component. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. Korea withholds at a combined 22% on dividends, interest and royalties (15.4% on bond interest) paid to foreign corporations and non-residents without a Korean permanent establishment. A caller wanting a number must name which payment type; read withholding_rates rather than expecting a headline figure. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. A tax treaty can reduce any of them, and whether relief is available depends on the recipient's residence, beneficial ownership and (for reduced rates) Korea's application procedures; recipients in designated low-tax jurisdictions face the domestic rate unless pre-approved. We do NOT serve treaty rates: they are bilateral, run to many country pairs, and applying one is a legal determination rather than a lookup. RATE COMPOSITION: each served rate is the NATIONAL withholding rate under Corporate Tax Act art. 98 / Income Tax Act art. 156 (20%, or 14% for bond interest) PLUS local income tax of 10% OF THE NATIONAL TAX under the Local Tax Act: 20% x 1.1 = 22%; 14% x 1.1 = 15.4%. Sources quoting '20%' are quoting the national component only. Since 1 January 2023, interest and capital gains on prescribed Korean government bonds and monetary stabilization bonds held by qualifying non-residents are exempt from withholding.
Get it programmatically
curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/kr/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/kr/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://asiaref.dev/provenance/kr/withholding-taxOther South Korea series: Bank of Korea Base Rate · Statutory interest (법정이율) · Value-Added Tax (부가가치세) standard rate · VAT registration threshold · National minimum wage (최저임금) · Public holidays · Consumer price inflation (소비자물가 상승률) · Corporate income tax (법인세) top rate · Personal income tax (종합소득세) schedule · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Sri Lanka · Taiwan · Thailand · Türkiye · United Arab Emirates · all 28