Seoul sets July property tax bill at W2.64tr, up 12% from last year

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has finalized its July property tax bill at 2.64 trillion won ($1.77 billion). Taxpayers must pay by the end of this month or face a 3% late-payment surcharge.

Seoul confirmed the July property tax assessment of 2.64 trillion won for owners of housing, buildings, vessels and aircraft, and said it mailed about 5 million tax notices to taxpayers on Friday.

Taxpayers who received notices this month must pay by July 31. Those who miss the deadline will be charged an additional 3% late-payment penalty.

This year's July property tax rose 276.3 billion won, or 11.7%, from last year. By asset type, housing accounted for 1.95 trillion won and buildings for 674.7 billion won. Vessels and aircraft combined for 9.5 billion won.

The housing portion rose 255.6 billion won, or 15.0%, from last year, driven mainly by increases in publicly assessed prices — up 18.67% for apartment complexes and 4.34% for individual homes.

Among Seoul's 25 autonomous districts, Gangnam-gu recorded the highest property tax at 465.4 billion won, followed by Seocho-gu at 309.3 billion won and Songpa-gu at 283.8 billion won.

About 3.93 million housing units were subject to property tax this year, up 1.5%, or about 57,000 units, from about 3.87 million last year. The number of homes with a publicly assessed price above 600 million won rose 14.2%, or about 185,000 units, to about 1.49 million from about 1.3 million last year, reflecting the rise in assessed values.

To ease the tax burden on single-home owner-occupiers, Seoul again applied the same fair-market value ratios as last year: 43% for homes assessed at up to 300 million won, 44% for those assessed between 300 million won and 600 million won, and 45% for those assessed above 600 million won. About 2.13 million of the total 3.93 million housing units — 54.2% of all homes — qualify for the reduced ratio.

In addition, Seoul is offering a range of payment conveniences to help taxpayers meet the deadline.

Because paper notices are sent only once, taxpayers who sign up for electronic delivery will receive a reminder as the deadline approaches. Those who also opt in for notification messages will receive a separate text alert. A smartphone delinquency-alert service will also notify unpaid taxpayers three days before the due date.

Foreign taxpayers with limited Korean can check their billing information using a translated guide enclosed with the notice. Visually impaired taxpayers can scan a voice-conversion QR code printed on the notice using a dedicated smartphone app or a voice-conversion device to hear the billing details read aloud.

Payment can be made through multiple channels: the Seoul eTax website, the Seoul STAX mobile app, simple-payment apps including Kakao Pay, Naver Pay and Toss Pay, a dedicated bank account transfer, or bank ATMs and automated payment kiosks.

Property tax is levied each year in July and September on owners of housing, land, buildings and other assets as of June 1, the annual assessment date. The July round covers half of the housing tax along with taxes on buildings, aircraft and vessels; the September round covers the remaining half of the housing tax and all land taxes.

"Missing the deadline adds a 3% surcharge, so we urge all taxpayers to use convenient payment methods such as the Seoul online tax payment system and pay their property tax by July 31," said Shin Ae-seon, head of Seoul's tax administration division.