Every late November, Korean news mentions “comprehensive real estate tax bills.” But didn't we already pay property tax in July? They're two entirely different taxes.
This year is worth watching closely. The land ministry puts the 2026 published-price rise for Seoul apartments at 18.60% (9.13% nationally), and according to the tax accountants’ newspaper in June 2026 a proposal to lift the fair market value ratio from the current 60% to 80% is under discussion. Together, those two would make this year's bill look quite different from last year's.
1. Are you liable. Property tax applies to every owner (local tax); comprehensive real estate tax only above a threshold (national tax) — the basic deduction is ₩1.2 billion for a single-home household and ₩900 million otherwise. The latter is layered on top of property tax.
2. Why this year differs. 2026 published prices for Seoul apartments rose 18.6% (9.13% nationally), and a proposal to lift the fair market value ratio from 60% to 80% is under discussion — together they would make this year's bill look quite different.
3. What to do. One day — 1 June — decides it. Sell on or after 2 June and you pay that year's property and comprehensive tax on a home you no longer own. Whether the completion date can be set on or before 31 May is worth millions of won.
The 2026 tax reform bill may change the figures below. As finalised on 1 September (submitted 3 September), it raises the single-home allowance to ₩1.4bn if occupied, keeps ₩1.2bn if not, and lifts the fair market ratio 60% → 70%. The August proposals to cut the non-occupied allowance to ₩900m and loosen the burden ceiling to 200% were dropped on 1 September (checked 28 September 2026). For joint spouses owning one home they do not live in (without the joint-ownership election), the August formula of ₩400m plus an occupancy top-up became ₩600m each (currently ₩900m). It is still a government bill and the earliest start is 2027 — everything below is current law. The bill is set out in our guide to the 2026 tax reform bill.
Property tax vs. comprehensive real estate tax
| Item | Property tax / comprehensive tax |
| Type | Local / national |
| Who pays | All owners / owners above the deduction |
| Assessment date | June 1 / June 1 (same) |
| Payment | July and September / December 1–15 |
| Calculation unit | Per property / per person, nationwide total |
| Surtax | Local education tax / 20% rural development tax |
The critical difference is “per person, nationwide.” Property tax is billed property by property; the comprehensive tax adds up the published prices of every home you own across Korea.
Am I liable? The basic deduction
| Single-home household | ₩1.2B |
| Others (multi-home) | ₩900M |
| Aggregate land | ₩500M |
| Separately aggregated land | ₩8B |
This is the fork. A single-home owner with a ₩1.2B published price pays zero. A multi-home owner whose homes total ₩1.2B has a ₩900M deduction and pays tax on ₩300M. Same total, different result.
Also note the base is the published price, not market price. The land ministry’s release applies “the same 69% realisation rate as the previous year” (announced 30 April 2026) — roughly seven-tenths of market value becomes the published price. In practice, single-home owners enter the net around a ₩1.7B market value.
How much did 2026 published prices rise?
The apartment figures come from the land ministry’s final announcement (30 April 2026); the Seoul detached-house figure and the complexes from the June 2026 newspaper report. Earlier versions called 18.6% the apartment average; it is the Seoul figure (9.13% nationally). Averages are hard to feel, so the actual complexes are listed alongside.
| Item | 2026 published price | Prior year |
|---|---|---|
| Seoul apartment average increase | 18.60% (national 9.13%) | |
| Seoul standard detached houses | 4.5% | |
| Raemian First Age, Banpo, 84㎡ | ₩3.641B | ₩2.853B |
| Raemian Prugio, Mapo, 84㎡ | ₩1.752B | ₩1.338B |
| Sinsigaji 7, Mok-dong, 66㎡ | ₩1.962B | — |
| Hannam The Hill, Yongsan, 235㎡ | around ₩8.65B | — |
Within Seoul, apartments rose 18.6% while detached houses rose 4.5%. The same headline “published prices are up” lands almost four times harder on one than the other. Judging your own bill from a single national average will mislead you.
The burden cap — however far prices run, this stops it
A large jump in published price does not carry straight through to the bill. Under Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax Act art. 10, where this year’s housing property tax plus holding tax exceeds 150% of last year’s combined amount, the excess is disregarded — 150% for individuals regardless of how many homes, with some corporations excepted (checked 23 September 2026). The base is the two taxes combined, not the holding tax alone.
Pay ₩2M last year and, however far the published price runs, this year cannot exceed ₩3M. That is why the rise in published prices and the rise in tax are not the same number.
The same source notes the special fair market value ratio for single-home owners' property tax is 43–45%. The two taxes do not even use the same ratio.
How it's calculated
There is a separate comprehensive real estate tax calculator that walks the six steps in order.
| ① Sum published prices | All your homes nationwide |
| ② − basic deduction | ₩1.2B single / ₩900M other |
| ③ × fair market ratio | Housing currently 60% (80% under discussion) |
| = tax base | Rates applied here |
| ④ − property tax already paid | Overlapping amount deducted |
| ⑤ − tax credits | Age and long-holding (single home) |
| ⑥ + rural development tax | 20% of the tax |
Step ④ matters: it prevents double taxation on the same value.
Step ③ is this year's biggest variable. The ratio is set by enforcement decree, not statute, so it can change every year. Moving from 60% to 80% enlarges the tax base by more than a third. Confirm the finalised ratio before your bill arrives.
There are two rate schedules — and they are identical up to 1.2bn won
Article 9(1) of the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax Act carries two rate schedules for housing: one for two homes or fewer, one for three or more. That is where “more homes means a higher rate” comes from. Set the two side by side, though, and not a single band differs up to a tax base of 1.2bn won. Which means the heavy rate really starts at a published price of KRW 2.9bn — the working is in two rate tables and the 2.9bn line.
| Tax base | Two or fewer | Three or more | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 300m won | 0.5% | 0.5% | same |
| 300m – 600m | 0.7% | 0.7% | same |
| 600m – 1.2bn | 1.0% | 1.0% | same |
| 1.2bn – 2.5bn | 1.3% | 2.0% | differs |
| 2.5bn – 5.0bn | 1.5% | 3.0% | differs |
| 5.0bn – 9.4bn | 2.0% | 4.0% | differs |
| Over 9.4bn | 2.7% | 5.0% | differs |
The statute writes each band as a fixed amount plus a rate — “9.6m won plus 1.3% of the amount exceeding 1.2bn won” — so the tax accumulated in the lower bands is stated up front and the band rate applies only to the excess. The figures below are that sentence, worked through.
What matters is not the rate but where the split falls. An owner of three or more homes gets a 900m won deduction and a 60% fair market value ratio, so a base of 1.2bn corresponds to a combined listed price of about 2.9bn won. Below that, three homes and one home carry the same rate.
So at what listed price do they actually part?
Deduct 900m won, apply the 60% ratio to get the tax base, then run each schedule. These are amounts before the property-tax credit under article 9(3) and before any of the ownership credits.
| Combined listed price | Tax base | Two or fewer | Three or more | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5bn won | 360m won | 1.9m won | 1.9m won | same |
| 2.0bn won | 660m won | 4.2m won | 4.2m won | same |
| 2.9bn won | 1.2bn won | 9.6m won | 9.6m won | same |
| 4.0bn won | 1.86bn won | 18.2m won | 22.8m won | +4.6m won |
| 6.0bn won | 3.06bn won | 34.9m won | 52.4m won | +17.5m won |
Read the table as “how far the two schedules diverge at a given combined listed price”, not as “what three homes cost”. An actual bill then subtracts the property tax already paid and the ownership credits, and is capped by the burden ceiling.
The schedules render as images inside the statute. Open article 9 on the Korean Law Information Center and the tables arrive as pictures, not text — scrape the page and no rate comes back at all. The figures here were read by zooming into the rendered article, then checked a second time against the band rates and progressive deductions in the National Tax Service's calculation flowchart.
Credits for single-home owners
The two credits are added together — but the tables reach 90% and the law cuts the combined figure at 80%. All nine combinations are drawn out in the age and holding relief.
| Age credit | Rises by age band from 60 |
| Long-holding credit | Rises with years held, from 5 years |
| Combined cap | Up to 80% together |
An older owner in a long-held single home often sees the tax shrink to near nothing — which is why the “tax bomb on one home” worry frequently doesn't match reality.
Less well known — older owners can defer payment
Separate from the credits, there is a deferral scheme. It does not reduce the tax; it postpones it until you sell. It exists for retirees whose income is flat while their home's value has climbed. We opened the provision on 21 September 2026 and took the conditions from Article 20-2(1) of the Act itself:
| Condition | Threshold |
|---|---|
| House | A one-house household on the assessment date (a co-owning spouse filer counts) — subpara. 1 |
| Age or holding | 60 or over, or the house held 5 years or more — subpara. 2. Not both |
| Income | Prior-year total salary ₩70M or less, or comprehensive income ₩60M or less (only for someone whose salary does not exceed ₩70M) — subpara. 3 |
| Tax amount | Housing portion of the year's tax above ₩1M — subpara. 4 |
| Applying | By 3 days before the payment deadline, and you must post security — para. (1) |
| Interest | 3.1% a year — Decree art. 16-2(3)2(b) → Framework Act Decree art. 43-3(2) → Rules art. 19-3 |
It isn't free. Interest accrues over the deferral, and this page long said 1.2% a year — that was the 2022 figure. The provision does not state a rate; it points to the tax-refund interest rate (Decree art. 16-2(3)2(b)), which is 31/1,000, i.e. 3.1% a year (Framework Act Enforcement Rules art. 19-3, am. 2 January 2026) — more than double. It is still a real option for an owner determined not to sell, but you must post security, and selling or gifting the house revokes the permission: the deferred tax and the interest fall due together (Act art. 20-2(3) and (5)).
Is joint ownership better?
| Sole ownership (single home) | ₩1.2B deduction + age and holding credits |
| Joint ownership (couple) | ₩900M each, ₩1.8B combined |
Joint ownership looks better on the headline deduction, but sole ownership can cut up to 80% through age and holding credits — so older, longer-held owners eventually favor sole treatment. Joint owners may therefore apply for single-home special treatment and be assessed the sole-ownership way, choosing each September whichever is better.
Payment and installments
- Billed by the tax office around late November — no filing required (self-filing is optional).
- Deadline — per the tax accountants' newspaper, bills go out from 21 November and payment is due by the 15th of the following month. The self-filing window for correcting the bill runs 1–15 December.
- Installments available when the tax exceeds ₩2.5M, spread over up to six months.
- Exclusion filing from 16 to 30 September removes qualifying rental and company housing from the total.
June 1 — one day in the closing schedule decides it
This is the most practical part of the article, and the tax accountants' newspaper carries exactly this case. A seller who had planned to close on 30 May instead received the balance and transferred title on 3 June — and was billed as a two-home owner.
The article's own sentence: “if the home is sold after 2 June, that year's property tax and comprehensive real estate tax fall on the seller.” You pay another full year on a home you have already handed over. Whether the closing date can be set on or before 31 May is worth millions of won.
The mirror image holds for buyers: close after 2 June and you skip that year's holding taxes. Put this date alongside the closing schedule in the purchase process guide.
Questions you may have
Where do I find published prices?
On the official real estate price disclosure site, published annually with an objection window.
Does a rented-out home count?
Yes — liability follows ownership. Rental income is taxed separately, and the tenant's legal position is a separate matter again.
What if I sell just before June 1?
The June 1 owner pays. Closing on May 31 shifts that year's bill to the buyer.
Are inherited homes included?
Special rules can exclude them from the count for a period. Check the requirements.
If published prices rose 20%, does my tax rise 20%?
No. The burden cap of 150% of the prior year's computed tax stops it. A rise in the fair market value ratio does make the increase feel larger, though.
Is this the same as the tax I paid when buying?
Entirely different. Buying triggers acquisition tax, holding triggers property tax and this one, and selling triggers capital gains tax. All three are computed separately.
Re-checked against the statute — 21 September 2026
This page used to close by saying that the ₩1.2B/₩900M basic deductions, the ₩500M and ₩8B land thresholds, the rate schedule, the age and holding credit percentages, the 20% rural surtax and the ₩1.8B joint-ownership figure had not been checked against a public-agency original. Today we went through them line by line in the statute.
| Figure | Where it is written |
|---|---|
| Basic deduction ₩1.2B (one-house household) / ₩900M | Act art. 8(1)1 and 8(1)3 |
| Fair market value ratio 60% housing / 100% land | The Act fixes only the 60–100% range (arts. 8(1), 13(1)(2)); the figures are in Decree art. 2-4(1) and (2) |
| Land ₩500M aggregate / ₩8B separate | Act art. 13(1) and 13(2) |
| Two rate schedules (≤2 houses / ≥3 houses) | Act art. 9(1)1 and 9(1)2 — the tables are images in the statute, read from their alt text |
| Age credits 20 / 30 / 40% | The table in Act art. 9(6) (ages 60 / 65 / 70) |
| Holding credits 20 / 40 / 50% | The table in Act art. 9(8) (5 / 10 / 15 years) |
| Combined cap 80% | Act art. 9(5), second sentence — “may be applied together within a combined rate of 80%” |
| Burden cap 150% | Act art. 10 |
| Instalments above ₩2.5M · 6 months | Act art. 20 |
| Rural development surtax 20% | Rural Development Special Tax Act art. 5(1)8 — “comprehensive real estate tax payable · 20/100” |
| Joint ownership ₩1.8B | No such figure exists in the statute. It is ₩900M each (Act art. 8(1)3) added together |
That last row is the careful one. The “₩1.8B for a couple” is our own addition; what the statute has is the co-owning one-house special case (Act art. 10-2) — apply between 16 and 30 September and one spouse is treated as the taxpayer of a one-house household. The deduction is then ₩1.2B, not ₩1.8B, but the age and holding credits become available. Which is better turns on age and years held.
As of today the Decree still sets the housing ratio at 60% — the move to 80% is still under discussion, and the place it would change is Decree art. 2-4.
Sources and where to check
- Korean Law Information Center — Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax Act (in force 1 January 2026, Act no. 21224) and its Enforcement Decree (in force 27 February 2026, Presidential Decree no. 36132), checked August 2026. Article 8(1) gives the tax-base formula and the 900m won deduction (1.2bn for a single-home household); article 9(1) carries the two rate schedules; article 9(3) is the property-tax credit. Note that the Act itself only sets the fair market value ratio as “between 60 and 100 percent” — the figure of 60% lives in article 2-4(1) of the Decree.
- National Tax Service — Comprehensive real estate holding tax — calculation flow (checked August 2026). Each box of the calculation was checked against the agency source. Source for the deductions of 900 million won (1.2 billion for a single-home household), 500 million for aggregated land and 8 billion for separately aggregated land, the fair market value ratio of 60% for housing and 100% for land, the rate bands and progressive deductions for up to two homes and for three or more, the single-home credits — 20% at 5 years held, 40% at 10, 50% at 15; 20% at age 60, 30% at 65, 40% at 70, “combinable up to a cap of 80%”, the 150% cap on the year-on-year increase, the rule that the property tax credit is computed separately by asset type, and “payment in instalments over six months where the amount exceeds 2.5 million won.”
- KACTA Tax Accountants' Newspaper — will the fair market value ratio go to 80% this year? (25 June 2026). Source of the current 60% ratio and the 80% proposal, the 150% burden cap, the 4.5% Seoul detached-house average, the 43–45% single-home property tax ratio, and the complex-by-complex published prices.
- KACTA Tax Accountants' Newspaper — the assessment date is 1 June — mind your closing (August 2024). Source of the sentence “if the home is sold after 2 June, that year's property tax and comprehensive real estate tax fall on the seller,” the worked case, the ₩1.2B deduction for low-value regional homes, the 80% credit ceiling and the exclusion filing window.
- Ministry of Government Legislation, National Law Information Center — Rural Development Special Tax Act, Article 5. Source of subparagraph 8 of paragraph (1) — “comprehensive real estate tax payable · 20/100”. The table is an image, read from its alt text. Checked 21 September 2026.
- Ministry of Government Legislation, National Law Information Center — Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Act, Articles 20 and 20-2 and Decree Article 2-4. Source of instalments (above ₩2.5M, 6 months), the four deferral conditions, the 3-days-before deadline and the security requirement, and the 60% / 100% ratios — plus the chain that sends the deferral interest to the tax-refund rate (Decree art. 16-2(3)2(b) → Framework Act Decree art. 43-3(2) → Rules art. 19-3, 31/1,000). Checked 21 September 2026.
- KACTA Tax Accountants' Newspaper — bills can be corrected 1–15 next month; deferral applications for older owners (November 2022). Source of the 21st billing date, the 1–15 self-filing window, the 15th of the following month deadline, the deferral conditions (60 or over / ₩70M salary / ₩60M comprehensive income / above ₩1M tax / 5 years held / 1.2% interest) and the ₩2.5M instalment threshold over six months. The interest figure was the 2022 one and was corrected against the statute on 21 September 2026 — it is 3.1% a year.
- Korea Association of Realtors news — summary of 2026 property tax amendments (February 2026). Source of the unsold-home threshold moving ₩600M → ₩700M and the preferential basic deduction moving ₩900M → ₩1.2B.
Written as of July 2026. The fair market value ratio, burden cap, 2026 published prices, realisation rate, worked examples, the 1 June assessment date, the deferral conditions, instalment thresholds and billing schedule all come from the sources above. On 23 September 2026 the two published-price figures were matched against the land ministry release — 18.6% is the Seoul apartment figure, not the national one (9.13%), and the 69% realisation rate matches “the same 69% as the previous year.” On 21 September 2026 we re-checked them against the statute — the basic and land deductions, the rate schedules, the credit percentages, the 80% cap, the burden cap, instalments, the 20% rural surtax and the deferral conditions are now listed provision by provision. Doing that turned up one error: the deferral interest we had at 1.2% a year was the 2022 figure, and it is 3.1%. The same section says plainly that “₩1.8B for a couple” is not in the statute — it is ₩900M each, added. As of today the Decree still sets the housing ratio at 60%; 80% remains under discussion. When the bill arrives, check the ratio and deductions actually applied on Hometax, and consult a professional if the amount is large. This is general information, not tax advice.
