Seoul City Imposes 2.4 Trillion Won in Property Tax, Amount Up 5.5% from Last Year... Tax Levies Ranked Gangnam > Seocho > Songpa

3.75 Million Houses, 990,000 Buildings, 2,000 Ships, 2,000 Aircrafts, Total 4.74 Million Cases
105,000 More Cases and 127.6 Billion KRW Increase in Tax Amount Compared to Last Year
Gangnam-gu 413.5 Billion KRW, Seocho-gu 270.6 Billion KRW, Songpa-gu 266.7 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 12th that it has finalized 4.74 million cases of property tax for housing, buildings, aircraft, etc., amounting to 2.4374 trillion KRW for the July installment this year, and has started sending tax bills to taxpayers from July 11. By district, Gangnam-gu recorded the highest amount at 413.5 billion KRW, followed by Seocho-gu with 270.6 billion KRW, and Songpa-gu with 266.7 billion KRW, with the three Gangnam districts ranking consecutively.

According to Seoul City, the tax amounts by taxable items for the July property tax this year are 1.738 trillion KRW for housing and 699.4 billion KRW for buildings, aircraft, etc. This July’s property tax increased by 105,000 cases (2.3%↑) and 127.6 billion KRW (5.5%↑) compared to last year. Among taxable items, the number of property tax cases for housing increased by 79,000 cases (2.4%↑) for multi-family housing but decreased by 7,000 cases (1.7%↓) for single-family houses. Non-residential buildings and others increased by 33,000 cases (3.4%↑).

Additionally, the property tax amounts for housing and buildings increased by 5.0% and 6.7%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Seoul City explained, "The reason for the increase in this year’s property tax amount compared to last year is not only due to the increase in the number of taxable properties such as newly constructed houses, but also because the publicly announced prices, which serve as the tax base for property tax, rose by 14.22% for multi-family housing and 9.95% for single-family houses, and the standard price for newly constructed non-residential buildings also increased by 5.4%."

By autonomous district, Gangnam-gu recorded the highest amount at 413.5 billion KRW, followed by Seocho-gu with 270.6 billion KRW, and Songpa-gu with 266.7 billion KRW, while the districts with the lowest amounts were Gangbuk-gu at 23.6 billion KRW, Dobong-gu at 26.9 billion KRW, and Jungnang-gu at 34.2 billion KRW. To address the tax revenue gap among districts, the city plans to allocate 1.8188 trillion KRW of the property tax collected this year as ‘joint property tax’ and distribute 72.7 billion KRW equally to each of the 25 districts at the end of next month after the property tax payment period ends.

In response to the 2022 housing publicly announced price increases of 14.22% for multi-family housing and 9.95% for single-family houses, Seoul City reduced the fair market value ratio applied to property tax from 60% to 45% to lessen the burden on single-homeowners. Additionally, separate from the 15% reduction in the application ratio of the publicly announced price, a special tax rate reduction of 0.05 percentage points has been applied since last year for single-homeowners with a publicly announced price of 900 million KRW or less.

To pay the property tax levied in July, taxpayers generally need to bring the tax bill to a bank. However, Seoul City operates various convenient payment systems that allow taxpayers to pay property tax easily without having to visit a bank, regardless of time and place. These include Seoul City ETAX, Seoul City STAX, dedicated account payments, and bank ATMs.

Meanwhile, Seoul City provides voice guidance and Braille services for property tax to facilitate payment for visually impaired persons and the elderly. Taxpayers can easily listen to local tax levy details by scanning the voice conversion barcode printed on the property tax bill through a mobile app, and 2,300 visually impaired individuals received separate Braille guidance documents. Also, if taxpayers have questions about property tax, they can receive local tax consultations from Seoul City village tax accountants and taxpayer protection officers.

In addition, the number of foreigners owning taxable property for property tax in Seoul is estimated at 23,853. The property tax bills sent this month included guidance documents in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, and Mongolian for foreign taxpayers. Among foreign property tax payers, English speakers are the largest group with 14,529 people, followed by 8,827 Chinese nationals.

Lee Byung-han, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Finance Bureau, said, “Due to economic difficulties and busy daily lives, citizens may miss the payment deadline and suffer disadvantages such as additional charges, so we urge everyone to pay their property tax within the deadline.”