Check Korea’s multi-home capital gains surcharge exclusions and home count together
A household holding a Seoul home, a provincial home and an inherited home cannot determine the capital gains surcharge simply by counting the properties on title.
Some homes are left out of the surcharge count, while others remain counted but qualify for an exclusion when that particular home is sold.
Confusing these treatments can lead to an unnecessary rushed sale or an unexpected combination of a surcharge and the loss of the long-term holding deduction.
This calculator uses the household’s Korean homes immediately before transfer, their locations and standard values, acquisition reasons, contracts and deadlines to distinguish count treatment from surcharge exclusion.
Review the counted total, the two-home or three-plus-home rule, the legal reason for each result, relevant deadlines and days remaining, and an optional ordinary-tax versus surcharge comparison for one selected home.
Use the home-by-home result and TXT review sheet to prepare the sale date, supporting documents and questions for a tax professional.
Korea-based 2026 rules · checked on 2026-11-06
The rule set is the Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree in force from 2026-10-01, and final determinations are limited to transfers from 2026-10-01 through 2026-12-31.
Other dates and unverified facts need renewed review, and these results do not replace a tax-office decision or a licensed tax accountant’s factual assessment.
Exclusion from the count differs from exclusion of the home’s sale
Excluded from the home count
The home is omitted when calculating the number used for this surcharge rule.
A qualifying-location home with a combined standard value of no more than KRW 300 million is a common example.
This can change whether another home’s sale is assessed under the two-home or three-plus-home rules.
Excluded from the surcharge on its sale
The home may remain counted even though its own sale qualifies for surcharge exclusion.
Examples include the five-year rule for qualifying inherited homes and the three-year rule for homes acquired through mortgage enforcement or in satisfaction of a debt.
An excluded sale does not make the property disappear from every tax or from the treatment of every other home.
A home outside an adjustment area can also remain in the household count even though its own sale is outside this adjustment-area surcharge.
The count on this page is specifically for the multi-home capital gains surcharge.
It is not the count used for acquisition tax, comprehensive real estate holding tax, housing-subscription eligibility or the one-household-one-home capital gains exemption.
Do not carry an exclusion from one system into another without checking that system’s rules.
Prepare the records and define the complete household portfolio
- All domestic homes of the household: Include homes belonging to the same household, rather than only those in your own name, immediately before transfer.
Enter the same home once instead of duplicating rows for spouses’ shares.
- Address and transfer-date standard value: Check the combined standard value of the home and its associated land, the administrative dong, eup, myeon or gun classification, and whether the home is in an adjustment area on the transfer date.
Market and transaction prices are separate from standard values.
- Acquisition and qualifying-reason history: Gather acquisition dates, inheritance records and priority facts, final ownership judgments, mortgage-enforcement or debt-settlement evidence, and the start and end of employment, education or medical-care reasons.
- Contracts and payment evidence: Gather the adjustment-area notice date, sale contract date, deposit-receipt evidence, and land transaction permit application and approval dates.
Distinguish the contract to sell the home from the earlier contract to buy it.
- Optional tax data: Enter sale and acquisition prices and verified allowable expenses for your own taxable ownership share, along with the remaining annual capital gains basic allowance.
Use the full amounts when you own the entire home; by contrast, the standard value for home-count tests is the value of the whole home and its associated land, rather than your share alone.
Providing these amounts does not complete exemption or tax-reduction eligibility checks.
Use 2–10 rows and leave facts you do not know as unverified.
Flag separately reviewed circumstances such as presale or occupancy rights, marriage-related treatment, separate sales of multi-unit detached-house portions, or trading-business inventory.
An omitted home or an unresolved special rule can change the entire result, so an incomplete count must not be treated as final.
The KRW 300 million regional rule starts with location
Article 167-3(1)1 and Article 167-10(1)1 cover specified-location homes whose combined home-and-land standard value does not exceed KRW 300 million when that home or another home is transferred.
KRW 300,000,000 meets the value limit, while KRW 300,000,001 does not.
An everyday description such as provincial property does not precisely define the statutory geography, so check the administrative address.
Regional low-value home count exclusion: location categories and transfer-date combined standard-value limit| Location category | Item 1 location treatment | Value ceiling |
|---|
| Capital-region, metropolitan-city and Sejong areas outside the statutory locality exceptions | Low value alone does not qualify | Not applicable |
| Qualifying Gyeonggi eup/myeon, metropolitan-city gun/eup/myeon and Sejong eup/myeon areas | Verify the statutory administrative exception | KRW 300,000,000 |
| Areas outside the capital region, metropolitan cities and special self-governing cities | Location requirement met | KRW 300,000,000 |
For example, a household with one ordinary Seoul home and a Jeonju home with a KRW 300 million standard value may have one counted home for this surcharge, assuming no other special circumstances.
That does not automatically make the Seoul sale exempt from capital gains tax.
Conversely, a Seoul home with a KRW 300 million standard value does not qualify under item 1 on value alone.
Two-home-only exclusions: KRW 100 million, relocation and ownership litigation
Standard value of no more than KRW 100 million at transfer
Article 167-10(1)9 provides a surcharge exclusion for qualifying homes worth no more than KRW 100,000,000 under the standard-value measure; it is not a count exclusion.
KRW 100,000,001 exceeds the limit.
Homes in specified redevelopment areas, former reconstruction-association project sites and small-scale improvement project areas are generally outside this exclusion, subject to the statutory exception for a residential-environment improvement project sale to that project’s operator.
A home acquired for education, employment or medical care
This route checks a home with an acquisition-date combined standard value of no more than KRW 300 million, acquired for relocation by part of the household to another city or county so that the household became a two-home household.
The home must match the school, workplace or treatment location, with at least one year of residence after acquisition and the applicable three-year limit after the reason ends.
Do not substitute the transfer-date value for the acquisition-date value or treat an investment purchase as an employment-purpose acquisition.
Litigation over ownership
Item 7 covers a home subject to ongoing ownership litigation or acquired as a result of that litigation before the applicable three-year period from the final judgment has elapsed.
An ordinary eviction or rent dispute is not enough.
The acquisition and final-judgment dates can differ, so enter the date on each supporting record separately.
These standalone exclusions and the outside-capital-region home rule linked to Article 155(8) are in the two-home article.
When the counted total is three or more, do not assume that Article 167-3 contains the same provisions.
Determine the relevant home count before applying the legal reason for each property.
Five years for qualifying inheritance; three for mortgage enforcement or debt settlement
The inherited-home exclusion in Article 167-3(1)7 requires a home qualifying under Article 155(2), before the applicable five-year period from inheritance has elapsed.
It does not exclude every home inherited by a household.
Review the deceased owner’s homes and statutory priority, household relationships and the other Article 155 facts separately.
A recent inheritance date alone cannot establish surcharge exclusion while eligibility remains unverified.
Item 8 concerns homes acquired through mortgage enforcement or accepted in satisfaction of a debt before the applicable three-year period from acquisition has elapsed.
Do not classify every ordinary auction purchase as mortgage-enforcement acquisition; verify the creditor position and the actual acquisition route.
For two-home cases, both rules are incorporated through Article 167-10(1)2.
Calendar deadline examples
A qualifying inheritance on 2021-11-06 gives a five-year calendar deadline of 2026-11-06 for review, with zero days remaining when the reference date is that same day.
An applicable mortgage-enforcement acquisition or final ownership judgment on 2023-11-06 likewise gives a three-year deadline of 2026-11-06.
The period result changes on the following day, so check the tax transfer date instead of merely signing a contract before the deadline.
These examples assume that eligibility and the acquisition route have already been confirmed.
Calendar calculations refer to the Civil Act principles excluding the first day and using the corresponding date or month-end.
Recheck leap-year and month-end results against the records, and do not assume an automatic extension because a substantive disposal deadline falls on a weekend or public holiday.
An elapsed deadline for one route does not mean every other exclusion or exemption has disappeared.
When only one ordinary home remains after the listed exclusions
Looking only at the inherited home’s own exclusion can miss the treatment of selling the ordinary home first.
The Decree also excludes a remaining ordinary home when only one remains after specified categories of homes are set aside.
The categories in this test differ between two-home and three-plus-home cases.
Two homes: Article 167-10(1)10
Set aside only homes falling under items 1 through 7 and check whether one home remains.
Do not add the KRW 100 million home under item 9 to that list.
A Seoul ordinary home and a Seoul low-value home can therefore have different surcharge results even though the low-value home’s own sale is excluded.
Three or more: Article 167-3(1)10
Set aside homes under items 1 through 8 and item 8-2, then check whether only one ordinary home remains.
A household with one ordinary home and two qualifying inherited homes within their periods can still have three counted homes while the ordinary home qualifies under item 10.
Each inherited home’s eligibility must be established first.
Do not place every surcharge exclusion into one common list and use it to rescue other homes.
Pre-notice contracts, temporary suspension and deemed-single-home treatment have their own statutory positions.
Do not extend the residual-home list beyond the wording merely because item 12 excludes a home from the main count.
An unresolved special category can also leave the ordinary home’s dependent result pending.
Joint inheritance and special treatments requiring external verification
For home-count allocation, a jointly inherited home is attributed to the largest inherited-share holder; ties are resolved by residence and then age.
You must also check whether that attributed owner belongs to the same household.
Do not classify ordinary spousal co-ownership as a non-attributed inherited share, and do not duplicate the same home across several rows.
Long-term rental and reduced-tax rental homes, tax-reduction homes, national heritage homes, long-term employee housing, long-term childcare premises, Article 155(8) homes outside the capital region, deemed-single-home treatment under Article 155 or the Restriction of Special Taxation Act, and Article 167-3(1)12 categories have detailed conditions.
Entering an externally verified status does not mean this tool has independently assessed those conditions.
Keep confirmed, not met and unverified statuses distinct, and preserve the fact that any resulting treatment is conditional on the supplied verification.
Cases needing a pending result
A non-attributed heir’s own-share sale, subsequently purchased shares, unresolved allocation, mixed rights and recapture following failure of a mandatory rental period require separate review.
A subtotal of resolved rows must not be read as the household’s final count or an assessed tax bill.
Contracts before an adjustment-area notice and the 2026 transition
The pre-notice sale-contract exclusion requires a sale contract and documented receipt of the deposit before the applicable adjustment-area designation notice date.
A contract on the notice date does not meet a strictly earlier-date requirement, and this is not the contract used to acquire the home.
Check both the home’s adjustment-area status at transfer and the notice relevant to the sale contract.
The temporary surcharge suspension for homes held for at least two years covered transfers through 2026-05-09, with separate contract and permit transition cases.
For a home not requiring a land transaction permit, the sale contract and documented deposit receipt must be by 2026-05-09, and transfer must occur within four months of the contract, or six months in the statutory listed areas.
Permit cases require an application by the same date, an actual permit and the contract and deposit evidence.
Permit cases contracted on or after 2026-05-10
In addition to the contract-based four- or six-month rule, transfer is capped at 2026-09-09 for four-month areas or 2026-11-09 for the listed six-month areas.
For the calculator’s final assessment window beginning 2026-10-01, the already elapsed four-month fixed cap is not treated as a current suspension.
An inconsistent application, permit, contract or transfer sequence, or missing deposit evidence, prevents confirmed transitional treatment.
The statutory six-month Seoul list comprises Seongdong, Mapo, Gangdong, Yeongdeungpo, Yangcheon, Dongjak, Gwangjin, Jung, Jongno, Seodaemun, Gangseo, Nowon, Seongbuk, Guro, Dongdaemun, Gwanak, Eunpyeong, Jungnang, Geumcheon, Gangbuk and Dobong districts.
The Gyeonggi list comprises Suwon’s Jangan, Paldal and Yeongtong districts; Seongnam’s Sujeong, Jungwon and Bundang districts; Anyang’s Dongan district; Gwacheon; Yongin’s Suji district; Gwangmyeong; Hanam; and Uiwang.
Do not select six months for all of Seoul or all of Gyeonggi; compare the actual location with the Decree’s table.
Optional tax comparison: include both the surcharge and the lost holding deduction
Under Income Tax Act Article 104(7), the relevant two-home surcharge adds 20 percentage points to basic rates and the three-plus-home surcharge adds 30 percentage points.
The applicable surcharged assets are also excluded from the ordinary long-term holding deduction.
The exclusion scenario uses ordinary taxation, table 1 of the holding deduction and basic rates.
The ordinary deduction is zero below three years, then 2% per completed holding year, capped at 30% from fifteen years.
Gain = max(sale price − acquisition price − allowable expenses, 0)
Ordinary taxable base = max(gain × (1 − ordinary holding deduction rate) − remaining basic allowance, 0)
Surcharge taxable base = max(gain − remaining basic allowance, 0)
Ordinary national tax = taxable base × basic rate − progressive deduction
Surcharged national tax = basic tax on the surcharge base + surcharge base × 20% or 30%
Comparison total = national tax + local income tax equivalent to 10% of national tax
Basic rates are 6%, 15%, 24%, 35%, 38%, 40%, 42% and 45% by taxable-base band, with the corresponding progressive deductions.
Enter only the remaining part of the KRW 2,500,000 annual basic allowance and reduce it for amounts already used on other transfers.
The tool does not confirm an applied amount for holdings below two years, deemed-exempt single-home cases, joint inheritance or incomplete facts.
Short-holding-rate comparisons, annual gain-and-loss settlement, tax reductions and the single-home table 2 deduction require separate analysis.
Worked tax check: KRW 500 million gain and ten years of holding
Assume acquisition on 2016-11-06, transfer on 2026-11-06, a gain of KRW 500,000,000 and a remaining basic allowance of KRW 2,500,000.
There is no exemption or tax reduction, and ordinary taxation gives a 20% holding deduction.
The ordinary taxable base is therefore KRW 397,500,000, compared with KRW 497,500,000 under the surcharge assumption.
This is a check of alternative rules applied to the same gain, rather than a finding that a particular home qualifies.
Ordinary and multi-home surcharge assumptions for a KRW 500 million gain, ten-year holding period and KRW 2.5 million basic allowance| Scenario | National and local total | Difference from ordinary tax |
|---|
| Ordinary tax; 20% holding deduction | KRW 146,366,000 | KRW 0 |
| Two-home +20 percentage points; no holding deduction | KRW 299,816,000 | KRW 153,450,000 |
| Three-plus-home +30 percentage points; no holding deduction | KRW 354,541,000 | KRW 208,175,000 |
If the home is outside an adjustment area or has a confirmed exclusion, the surcharged scenario is not its applied tax.
If the exclusion remains unverified, the difference must not be treated as an available tax saving.
The optional estimate concerns one selected transfer, rather than the household’s combined bill or an optimized order for selling every home.
How to use the calculator and act on the result
- Choose the actual tax transfer date and list the household’s full portfolio immediately before that transfer.
Check the tax timing first if registration and final settlement occur in a different order.
- Review location and transfer-date standard values before entering inheritance, mortgage, litigation, employment or other reasons.
Leave unresolved facts pending.
- Read the counted total and applicable article, then compare each row’s count treatment, exclusion reason, residual ordinary-home conditions and deadline.
Remember that each row assumes a separate transfer on the same reference date.
- Select one home for the optional tax comparison and enter prices, expenses and the remaining basic allowance.
Distinguish an assessed scope from an alternative ordinary-versus-surcharge assumption.
- Save the TXT review sheet with its legal reasons and pending items, then take it and the evidence to a tax consultation.
Changing the settlement date requires a new count, value and deadline review at that new date.
Confirming individual legal treatment is a useful first step before choosing a sale order.
If a prior sale changes the portfolio, recalculate using the homes still held and separately compare tax-year splits and total tax across schedules.
Keep a plan to sign within the deadline separate from a plan to complete the tax transfer within the deadline.
Practical situations and the limits of the result
Deciding whether to dispose of a provincial home
Check the provincial home’s standard value and administrative location even when another home is the intended sale.
A confirmed count exclusion may produce a surcharge count different from the raw number of titles.
This gives you evidence to review whether a rushed sale is necessary.
Selling an ordinary home after inheritance
Review the remaining ordinary-home rule as well as the inherited home’s five-year period.
If several homes were inherited, check the eligibility and statutory inheritance priority for each.
Keep this analysis separate from the ordinary home’s exemption assessment.
The calculator does not establish ownership or household facts, determine official standard values, validate permits or decide whether evidence is sufficient.
Recapture after a failed mandatory rental period, detailed item 12 conditions for small homes, completed unsold homes or population-decline locations, marriage-related treatment and separate multi-unit detached-house transfers need further review.
Treatment based on external rental or other verification can change if that verification is incorrect or a later obligation is breached.
Do not treat a proposal for 2027 or a future area designation or release as a current enacted rule.
Frequently asked questions
Is every provincial home worth KRW 300 million or less excluded from the home count?
Both the location and valuation requirements must be met.
Check the statutory location boundary, including the exceptions for qualifying gun, eup and myeon areas, and use the combined standard value of the home and its associated land at the relevant transfer date.
The sale price and the value when acquired are not substitutes.
Gyeonggi eup or myeon areas, metropolitan-city gun, eup or myeon areas and Sejong eup or myeon areas may meet the location exception, but the actual administrative address must be checked first.
Does a home with a standard value of KRW 100 million or less disappear from the count?
No.
Article 167-10(1)9 of the Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree excludes qualifying low-value homes from the surcharge when that home is sold by a two-home household.
The home remains in the count and is not part of the list used to rescue a remaining ordinary home under item 10.
Redevelopment and small-scale improvement area restrictions must also be checked.
Do not apply this two-home rule automatically to a household with three or more counted homes.
Is every home inherited less than five years ago excluded from the surcharge?
First confirm that it is an inherited home qualifying under Article 155(2).
The inherited-home scope, priority rules and household facts must be checked before the five-year period is applied.
A qualifying inherited home excluded from the surcharge under this rule normally remains in the surcharge home count.
If eligibility is unknown, keep the result pending and review the inheritance and housing records.
Can a minority inherited share be ignored even when the principal heir belongs to my household?
A jointly inherited home is allocated to the heir with the largest inherited share.
If several heirs tie, the resident and then the eldest take priority.
If the allocated owner belongs to the same household, the household cannot remove that home again.
Enter the same home only once and keep the case pending if allocation or subsequently purchased shares are unclear.
A sale of the non-allocated heir’s own share needs separate review.
Do employment-purpose and ownership-litigation exclusions also apply with three homes?
The standalone employment, education, medical-care and ownership-litigation provisions are in the two-home rules of Article 167-10.
Do not assume that Article 167-3 contains the same exclusions for three or more homes.
The employment-purpose route requires checks including a standard value of no more than KRW 300 million when acquired, relocation by part of the household to another city or county, a matching purpose location, at least one year of residence and no more than the applicable three-year period after the reason ends.
Does surcharge exclusion mean that capital gains tax is zero?
Surcharge exclusion removes the applicable multi-home rate addition.
It does not establish the one-household-one-home exemption or a tax reduction.
Ordinary taxable gains can still be taxed, and short holding periods, other transfers and the remaining annual basic allowance can change the amount.
The calculator withholds an applied tax figure when deemed-single-home or other eligibility needs a separate assessment.
If I signed by 2026-05-09, can the balance be paid whenever I choose?
No.
Subject to holding the home for at least two years, the contract, documented receipt of the deposit and transfer within four months, or six months in the statutory listed areas, must be checked.
Permit cases also require an application by 2026-05-09 and an actual land transaction permit.
If the permit-case contract is signed on or after 2026-05-10, the fixed transfer cap is 2026-09-09 for four-month areas or 2026-11-09 for six-month areas.
Can I sell every listed home in order and add the tax figures shown?
Each row is an independent assumption that only that home is sold while the full entered portfolio still exists immediately before the transfer.
Selling one home can change the count and the exclusions for the next sale.
Same-day disposals, different tax years and annual gain-and-loss settlement need separate analysis.
Verify the individual legal treatment first, then compare schedules in the sale-order calculator.
Official sources and the rule date
The statutory texts were checked on 2026-11-06.
The effective date of the full Decree is distinguished from the amendment history of individual provisions, and final determinations are restricted to the verified 2026-10-01 rule window.
Before filing, recheck subsequent amendments, adjustment-area status on the transfer date and the actual supporting facts.
- Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree, MST 290841: Presidential Decree No. 36737, promulgated 2026-09-30 and effective 2026-10-01; Articles 167-3, 167-10 and the relevant Article 155 provisions.
- Income Tax Act, MST 280405: effective 2026-07-01; rates, deductions and surcharge under Articles 55, 95, 103 and 104(7).
- Income Tax Act Enforcement Rule, MST 286379: effective 2026-07-01; education and employment reasons under Articles 83 and 71(3), and related small-home or unsold-home requirements under Article 82.
- Civil Act, MST 284415: effective 2026-03-17; period calculations under Articles 157, 159 and 160.
- Local Tax Act, MST 282559: effective 2026-07-01; local income tax rates under Articles 92 and 103-3.
- National Tax Service notice on the end of the suspension: the 2026-03-01 notice is supporting guidance; the current Decree takes priority for subsequently supplemented land transaction permit transitions.
Turn the review sheet into a documented sale plan
Start with the calculator above to review the household count, each home’s exclusion reason and unresolved facts.
Then compare actual settlement dates and sale orders and assemble the evidence, so the next tax consultation can address specific questions.