First-time teachers for the EPIK program (except Canadians) qualify for 2-years of tax exemption. Teachers who are already living in Korea qualify, if they have been in Korea for less than 2 years. See the information below on how to submit forms to qualify for the tax exemption.

Teachers will have to present a Certificate of Residency (or equivalent) to their school within their first working month, before they receive their first paycheck.

Australia

Fax or post a letter to the ATO requesting a certificate of residency and it will be mailed to you, it can take up to a month to receive it. Call 13 28 61 for more information.

Send a signed letter or fax with:

• Name
• Address
• Tax File Number (TFN)
• # of certificates required
• Country the certificate is for

Mail letter to address below or via Fax to (02) 9374 8999 or (02) 9374 2811

Attn: Certificate of residency/status
Australian Taxation Office
CAS Income Tax and Activity Statement
GPO Box 4991
SYDNEY NSW 2001

Ireland

A certificate of residence is required. Contact your local revenue office & ask how to obtain a Residency Certificate. http://www.revenue.ie/en/contact/index.html

New Zealand

New Zealanders  will have to fill out and submit an IR886 to receive the Residence Certificate. If you have any questions, hereis a comprehensive guide with detailed info about if you are a resident or non-resident (for tax purposes). Call 0800 227 77 for general tax inquiries or visit http://www.ird.govt.nz/

To complete the IR886 you will need your:

–         IRD number

–         Income and employment details

–         Date of departure from New Zealand.

If you’ll no longer be a tax resident and won’t be receiving income from New Zealand from the date you leave, you may need to complete an Individual tax return (IR 3) up to the date of your departure.  You can file your IR 3 before the end of the tax year.

Send your forms & proof of your departure to the appropriate Inland Revenue address below before you leave and provide them with full details of:

–        Your overseas address

–        The date you left or intend to leave New Zealand

–        The length of time you intend to be away

If you are closest to Whangarei, Nelson, Greymouth, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin or Invercargill send your forms to:

Inland Revenue

PO Box 3753

Christchurch Mail Centre

Christchurch 8140

Auckland: Takapuna or Manukau, send your forms to:

Inland Revenue

PO Box 761

Waikato Mail Centre

Hamilton 3240

Other North Island areas, if you are closest to Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North or Wellington send your forms to:

Inland Revenue

PO Box 39010

Wellington Mail Centre

Lower Hutt 5045

South Africa

South Africans have to get a document called a “Tax Clearance Certificate” from SARS, the South Africa Revenue Service. Their website is http://www.sars.gov.za.

First you will have to have a tax number. If you don’t have one, you will need to complete an IB-IT 77 form to get a tax number. After you get a tax number, you submit a TCC-001 to apply for the Tax Clearance Certificate. Click here to download the TCC-001.

Here is a link to the contact information for the SARS Contact Centers in South Africa, please contact the appropriate office to submit your documents.  Please double-check to make sure that you are submitting the correct documents, tell them you are requesting the letter/certificate in order to qualify for tax exemption as a teacher in South Korea. Please ask them how long it will take to receive the Tax Clearance Certificate.

United Kingdom

You will have to fill out a P85 form: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/p85_p85s.htm for the UK government records and also send a letter requesting a Certificate of Residency.   In the letter you should state which country needs the certificate (South Korea), Who it’s for (you and your national insurance number) and what type of income it’s for (employment income), tax year(s) affected. Write URGENT in red ink on the top of the form or mention it in the letter, that way they can prioritise it and hopefully get it done quicker.

It takes several weeks to receive the Certificate, so please have this certificate mailed to someone in the UK than mailed to your address here in Korea since housing is assigned after you arrive.

If you have any questions, you can contact the HMRC Residency helpline at Tel: +44-151-210-2222 or at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/email.htm

USA

Teachers need to fill out and send in a 8802 form. Please fax this instead of mailing it, so it can processed as soon as possible. However the fax numbers listed on the 8802 form are outdated, so please call (or have someone in the States call for you) 267-941-1000 for the correct fax numbers.  You can also call that number if you have questions on how to fill out the form.

Click here to download the 8802 form: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=137809,00.html

This link has detailed information on how to fill out this form:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8802.pdf

Now before you fax the form, you have to submit electronic payment (the easiest & fastest way to pay).  Please go here to pay.  You will receive an electronic payment confirmation number, please write this number on the first page of the 8802 form!

This is important: On line 8, please fill in 2009 for the tax period, and write 2011 for the calendar year. Also where it asks for your 2011 address, since you do not yet know your residence, write in your appointee (parents’ or friend’s) address, and that person can forward it to you when it is done.