Korea Property Tax Record Date & Closing Burden Comparison

A one-day closing change can move the annual tax burden

Home buyers and sellers often coordinate the price, loan drawdown and move before checking who will pay the year’s property taxes.
This calculator compares closing candidates around June 1, distinguishing the statutory taxpayer from a private reimbursement agreement.
It is intended for ordinary Korean home sales in 2026, including families helping a parent sell a home.
Amounts remain in KRW and use Korean rules.

Annual property tax is not automatically divided by the number of months each party lives in the home.
First establish who owns the home on the record date, then check any separate cost-sharing agreement.
Comprehensive real estate holding tax also depends on each person’s other homes, deductions and relief, so a closing change can alter the combined tax as well as its distribution.

The 2026 Korean record date is June 1

Local Tax Act Article 114 sets the property-tax record date at June 1 each year.
Article 107(1) generally makes the actual owner on that date the taxpayer.
Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax Act Article 3 adopts the same record date, and Article 7(1) connects housing holding-tax liability to housing property-tax liability.
The actual holding-tax amount still depends on person-wide aggregation, deductions and applicable relief.

Exceptions involving unreported ownership changes, unclear ownership or special acquisitions require separate review.
The calculator’s ordinary-sale assumption does not resolve disputed title or the statutory exceptions.

Early registration can advance acquisition

Local Tax Act Enforcement Decree Article 20(2) uses actual balance payment for an acquisition by purchase.
Its text also provides fallback rules where actual payment cannot be established, but this calculator requires the actual planned payment date.
Changing the date written in a contract does not erase a payment already made.
Check bank transfers and balance receipts.

For example, balance payment on 2026-06-02 with a successfully completed registration received on 2026-05-30 produces a May 30 acquisition date.
The buyer is then the June 1 owner.
Choosing the closing date for private day allocation changes only settlement days; it does not change the earlier acquisition date used to identify the home taxpayer.

Use confirmed annual taxes rather than one assessed price

Multiplying one assessed value by a simple rate can miss aggregation and credits.
This tool connects verified annual tax inputs to the record-date comparison rather than generating a new tax assessment.
A previous notice is only a reference if values or ownership conditions have changed.
Leave unverified amounts blank and enter 0 only when no tax has been confirmed.

Statutory burden and the transaction-related increment

Negative with-home minus without-home differences are preserved.
Verify simulation settings and relief changes before interpreting them.
They are not confirmed refunds or statutory reimbursement claims.
The displayed totals cover the stated inputs, not every tax paid by the parties.

Prorated settlement days and transfer direction

Choose no settlement, property tax only, or property tax plus incremental holding tax.
The last option uses the with-home minus without-home difference rather than an entire person-wide holding-tax bill.
These are private agreement assumptions, not an automatic statutory sharing rule.

When the buyer is the home taxpayer, the seller reimburses the buyer for the seller’s agreed share.
When the seller is the home taxpayer, the buyer reimburses the seller for the buyer’s agreed share.
After-settlement burden adds or subtracts that transfer from statutory burden.
This private whole-KRW rounding is separate from official tax-payment rounding and should be specified in the agreement.

Step-by-step use and contract review

1. Enter candidates: Add 2–3 feasible dates, such as late May, June 1 and early June.
   Enter any early registration receipt date under the successful-completion assumption.
   
2. Verify each property-tax amount: Use annual 2026 values under each potential owner’s facts.
   Match included tax items and keep other homes’ property taxes separate.
   
3. Select holding-tax scope: You can compare property tax first.
   For holding tax, obtain each party’s with-home and without-home simulation totals before entering all four amounts.
   
4. Set the agreement: Choose covered taxes and the allocation date.
   Confirm the ordinary-sale and year-long ownership assumptions to enable amount results.
   
5. Compare and document: Review statutory amounts, transfer direction and final economic burdens.
   Share TXT or print output and agree payment timing and later adjustments in the contract.
   

Signed changes compare each party’s after-settlement burden with the first candidate.
All candidates must have their required confirmed amounts before the overall lowest-burden candidates are shown.
A partly complete comparison does not declare a minimum over unknown alternatives.

Worked example: annual property tax of KRW 1,476,000

Assume the home’s property tax is KRW 1,476,000 for both parties, holding tax is excluded and there is no early registration.
This is a manually entered calculation example, not the confirmed current tax on a KRW 600 million assessed home or a one-home household’s relief amount.
Replace it with your own notice or current official simulation.

June 2 acquisition gives the seller 152 days.
Early registration on May 30 gives 149 seller days on the acquisition-date basis.
Using the agreed closing-date allocation instead changes the day split but preserves the early-registration taxpayer result.

Holding-tax example: the combined amount can change

Keep property tax at KRW 1,476,000 for each potential owner.
For May 31 acquisition, seller holding tax is KRW 600,000 and buyer property plus holding tax is KRW 2,436,000, producing KRW 3,036,000 combined statutory burden.
For June 2 acquisition, seller property plus holding tax is KRW 3,876,000 and buyer holding tax is KRW 120,000, producing KRW 3,996,000.
The combined candidate difference is KRW 960,000.

Practical scenarios, tips and limits

Under Local Tax Act Article 115(1)3, the annual housing property-tax amount of KRW 200,000 or less may be collected together in July as provided by local ordinance.
The calculator does not infer combined billing from the annual input; check the applicable ordinance and actual notice.

• The seller is assumed to hold from January 1 and the buyer through year-end after acquisition.
  Additional acquisitions or resale during the year require separate ownership-day review.
  
• Gifts, inheritance, trusts, installment purchases, auctions, land and commercial buildings are outside this ordinary-home comparison.
  The page does not automatically calculate assessed-value taxes, acquisition tax, capital gains tax, loan interest, historical tax caps or payment deferral.
  
• General housing property-tax periods are July 16–31 and September 16–30; holding tax is December 1–15.
  Check the actual notice for small-bill combined collection, holiday extensions, installments and additional assessments.
  
• Specify allocation-date inclusion, covered items, whole-KRW rounding, transfer timing and later assessment or refund handling.
  Saving the comparison does not confirm that the contract clause or payment has been completed.
  

Frequently asked questions