Korea

Korea's Rankings
CategoryRankScore
Overall Rank2660.62
Corporate Taxes3346.63
Individual Taxes2455.24
Consumption Taxes298.97
Property Taxes3243.03
Crossborder Taxes3357.45

Korea ranks 26th overall on the 2021 International Tax Competitiveness Index, one spot worse than in 2020.


Strengths

  • Korea has a low VAT of 10 percent that is applied to a relatively broad base.
  • Korea has a broad tax treaty network, with 93 countries.
  • Business investments in machinery receive better-than-average treatment for corporate write-offs.

Weaknesses

  • Korea has multiple distortionary property taxes with separate levies on real estate, estates, and financial transactions.
  • The personal income tax rate on dividends is 44.0 percent (compared to an OECD average of 24.1 percent).
  • Korea is one of the few OECD countries that operates a worldwide corporate tax system (rather than a territorial system).

Learn more about the tax system in Korea

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