Korean tax residency: the day-count element
Recorded because it is treated as the test when it is one element of a test. Residency is decided on the whole picture — address in Korea, occupation, family, assets and duration of stay — and a person can be a resident without reaching the day count or fail to be one having reached it. The figure matters because the scope of taxable income turns on the answer, so the arithmetic is worth doing before the year ends rather than in May.
- Applies to
- Individuals determining whether they are Korean tax residents, and therefore the scope of income Korea taxes
- Review cadence
- Checked once a year
What we have recorded
- 2026-10-12183 days — an element, not the test
Visa category does not decide residency. Where the answer is close, or where foreign income exists, the applicable tax treaty has to be read alongside the domestic rule — a treaty tie-breaker can allocate residence differently from the domestic test. Anyone holding foreign income should reach a view around the six-month point, not after the year has closed.
Income Tax Act and its Enforcement Decree — determination of residency
One reading so far. This becomes a history the first time the figure moves while we are watching — which is the part that cannot be reconstructed later.