Do I have to file at home while living in South Korea?
It depends on residence, not on address — except for US citizens and green-card holders, for whom the answer is yes regardless of where they live. We settle the residence question first, because every other answer follows from it.
Is there a treaty between my country and South Korea?
That is verified rather than assumed: we confirm which treaty text governs South Korea and your home country for the year in question, because a protocol can move a rate or an article between years. If there is no treaty, unilateral credit rules are what prevent double taxation.
I own property in South Korea. Where is the rent taxed?
Where the property is. That is close to universal, and it usually arrives as withholding on the gross rent rather than as a return on the profit — which is why the election onto a net basis, where South Korea offers one, is normally the first thing to check. Your home country taxes the same rent and credits what was paid.
Is the flat tax election worth taking as a foreign worker in Korea?
It depends on your whole position rather than on the Korean return alone. Korea has offered elective flat treatment to certain foreign workers, and where the election is available it changes both the Korean tax and, usually, the deductions and allowances that come with the ordinary basis. A lower Korean charge is not automatically the better answer for someone who also files at home, because a reduced foreign tax can mean a reduced credit and a larger bill in the other country. Model both bases across both returns before electing, and check the eligibility conditions against your own assignment rather than a colleague's.
Does the Korean flat election affect my foreign tax credit at home?
It can, and this is the part that is usually missed. A foreign tax credit relieves foreign tax actually paid, subject to a limit set by the home country's own tax on the same income. If an election lowers the Korean tax, there is less foreign tax to credit, and the saving may simply move the charge to the home return rather than removing it. Whether that leaves you better off depends on the relative rates and on what else is in your home return. Decide the two returns together, and keep the calculation showing why the basis was chosen.
When does a Korean assignment make me resident there?
Residence in Korea is decided on facts rather than on the visa or the length of the contract. Where you keep your home, where your family lives and the pattern of your presence are what count, and an assignment can cross the line part-way through a year without anything visible changing. Because both countries apply their own rules, you may be resident in each, in which case the treaty tie-break decides which prevails. Fix the date on which your position changed and document the evidence for it. Every other question on the file, from sourcing to credits, depends on that date.
Are my housing and school fees taxable on my Canadian return?
Assume they are unless something specific says otherwise. Benefits provided because of employment are generally part of employment income, and an allowance or a payment made directly to a landlord or a school is still a benefit received by you. Different countries value and exclude such benefits differently, so the same package can produce different amounts of taxable income in each place, and a package that has been tax-equalised adds a further layer because the employer's hypothetical deduction is not itself a tax. Get the components listed in the assignment letter and treated consistently on both returns.
I live in Canada but still earn in Korea. Where do I file?
Probably in both, for different reasons. As a Canadian resident you report worldwide income in Canada, and Korea taxes income arising within it whether or not you live there, so income from Korean employment, property or business generally keeps a Korean filing alive. The treaty then allocates the taxing rights and Canada relieves the Korean tax through the credit rules, limited to the Canadian tax on the same income. The practical work is matching the two years, which do not always contain the same income, and keeping the Korean assessments as evidence for the credit claim.
Who taxes my share awards if they vest after I leave Korea?
Both countries may take an interest, and the deciding factor is usually where the duties were performed over the period the award was earned rather than where you were living when it vested. An award granted before an assignment and vesting after it can therefore be sourced partly to each country, and each will apply its own timing rules to that slice. Keep the grant documentation, the vesting schedule and a record of where you worked across the period. Apportionment is straightforward when those papers exist, and largely guesswork when they do not.
What does "RIC" mean on my foreign tax paid statement?
Registered Investment Company — a US mutual fund or ETF. When a fund holds securities from many countries it may report the foreign tax it paid on your behalf without breaking it down by country, using RIC as the country label. You are allowed to use it that way on Form 1116 for that income, which saves you reconstructing a country-by-country split you have no way of knowing. See Form 1116.
Does my child born abroad need a US identification number before I can claim them?
Yes, and which number it is decides which benefits you get. The child credit requires a Social Security number issued in time for the return — an individual taxpayer identification number does not unlock it, though it does let a dependant be claimed for other purposes. For a child born overseas that means starting the consular birth registration and number application early, because the sequence takes longer than a filing season. See ITIN applications.
