3,100 Foreigners Made Over W100 Million in 2007
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Around 3,100 foreigners in Seoul made over 100 million won ($75,728) in 2007, according to the National Tax Service (NTS). They make up only 1.1 percent of total foreign workers in the country, but are paying 80 percent of the total tax paid by the income group.
The tax agency said that the number of foreign workers who filed for year-end tax settlement in 2007 totaled 282,064. Included among the foreigners are Koreans who gained permanent residence in other countries.
Among the salaried workers, 3,113, or 1.1 percent of the total, were making over 100 million won a year. There were one hundred who are regarded as super-rich, people who had taxable income surpassing 1 billion won.
They paid 227.6 billion won in tax in 2007, which is 80.2 percent of total tax paid by foreigners.
The tax agency said that many of them are estimated to be working for a foreign company. Those illegally working in Korea, meanwhile, aren't likely to be included in the calculation as most of them don't file for year-end tax settlement.
The number of foreigners who filed over 100 million won income for the global income tax totaled 1,711. Global income tax is usually levied on the self-employed, who make income from business, interest or dividends. Among these rich self-employed foreigners, those who had over 1 billion won in taxable income in 2007 hit 64.
There were a total of 101,036 people considered rich, both Korean and foreigner, who made over 100 million won income in 2007. They make up 0.76 percent of the total workforce. Workers in Ulsan, where Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hyundai Motors are located, had the highest average salary, making 31.5 million won annually. The average salary for Seoul workers was 26.7 million won, while those in Incheon made 21 million won.