Property Tax and CRET, Through the Year
Why June 1 matters — the tax base date and closing timing
Both property tax and the comprehensive real estate tax are levied on whoever owns the home as of June 1 each year — the “tax base date.” A single day’s difference can change who owes the tax, which is why closing dates are carefully negotiated in practice. Transfer ownership on May 31, and the buyer owes that year’s property tax and CRET; transfer on June 2, and the seller owes it. That’s why buyers often want to close after June 2, and sellers often want to close by June 1.
July and September — property tax comes in two installments
Housing property tax isn’t paid in one lump sum — it’s billed in two roughly equal installments, in July (16th–31st) and September (16th–30th) (small enough total amounts may be billed once, in July). This differs from when land/building portions bill, and simply spreads the annual amount across the year. Once billed, you can pay via Wetax or a local tax account; late payment adds a penalty.
Standard property tax rates — calculated by tax-base band
Property tax isn’t simply “base × rate” — each band’s accumulated amount adds the applicable rate only to the portion exceeding that band’s threshold. The 2026 four-tier standard rates (⚠ per the Local Tax Act, second-pass verified figure) are shown below.
| Tax base | Rate |
|---|---|
| 6천만원 이하 | 0.1% |
| 6천만원 초과 ~ 1억5천만원 이하 | 0.15% |
| 1억5천만원 초과 ~ 3억원 이하 | 0.25% |
| 3억원 초과 | 0.4% |
For example, a home with a 200,000,000 KRW tax base: stacking through the lower bands and adding 0.25% on the portion above 150,000,000 (200,000,000 − 150,000,000 = 50,000,000) yields 320,000 KRW under the standard rate.
1-home special rate — lower if the public price is 900M KRW or below
A single-home owner (one home per household) with a public price of 900,000,000 KRW or below gets a special rate 0.05 percentage points lower per band than the standard rate. Applying the special rate to the same 200,000,000 KRW example gives 220,000 KRW — 100,000 KRW less than the standard rate. Qualifying requires that, as of the June 1 base date, every household member owns just this one home nationwide; temporary two-home cases have separate rules worth checking.
December — CRET is a separate tax from property tax
Paying property tax isn’t the end of the story. Owners of multiple homes or high-value homes whose combined public price exceeds a threshold must separately file and pay the comprehensive real estate tax (CRET), a national tax, every December. The basic CRET deduction is 900,000,000 KRW, rising to 1,200,000,000 KRW for single-home households (Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Act Art. 8, maintained since the 2023 revision). Only the portion above this deduction is taxed at CRET’s separate rates, and part of what you already paid in property tax is credited back to avoid double taxation.
The annual calendar, at a glance
| Timing | What happens |
|---|---|
| 6월 1일 | Tax base date for property tax & CRET — owner on this date owes that year’s tax |
| 7월 16일~31일 | 1st installment of housing property tax billed/paid |
| 9월 16일~30일 | 2nd installment of housing property tax billed/paid |
| December | CRET filing/payment for owners above the deduction threshold |
Do multi-home owners pay different property tax — urban surcharge and CRET surtax
Owning multiple homes doesn’t change the standard property tax rate itself (each home is taxed individually at the standard bands), but homes in urban zones can carry an additional urban-area surcharge on top of property tax, and at the CRET stage, owning three or more homes triggers a steeper surtax rate table. So property tax bands stay the same regardless of how many homes you own, but CRET is where multi-home ownership becomes the key factor splitting the rate. Confirm the exact surtax status and rate via NTS guidance, since it depends on the number of homes and their location.
A local education surtax comes with it too
A property tax bill typically bundles in a local education surtax (20% of the property tax amount) alongside the base tax. Adding that surtax to the standard-rate property tax computed above means the total billed amount ends up higher than the property tax figure alone. CRET similarly carries a separate rural special tax (20% of the CRET amount).
Didn’t get a property tax bill — how to check anyway
Missing a property tax bill because of a move or address change doesn’t make the tax obligation disappear. Logging into Wetax lets you look up the property tax assessed under your name, and your local district tax office can confirm it too. Missing the deadline because a bill never arrived can still trigger a penalty, so it’s worth building a habit of checking Wetax proactively every June onward.
Property tax and CRET are paid through different portals
The two taxes are collected through different channels. Property tax is a local tax, paid via Wetax (Etax in Seoul); the comprehensive real estate holding tax is a national tax, paid via Hometax/Sontax, a bank counter, or a virtual account. Either way, setting up automatic transfer reduces the risk of missing a deadline. Whether a credit-card fee applies varies by card issuer and tax authority, so check before paying that way.
Where to look up the public price
The public price used to compute the tax base can be looked up each year via the Ministry of Land’s public price disclosure site. Multi-unit housing (apartments, row houses) is typically published in late April, single-family homes in late January, and objections can be filed within a set window (usually 30 days after disclosure). The actual tax base is the public price multiplied by the fair market ratio, so the public price and the tax base are not the same number.
Related guide
Property tax and CRET connect closely to the acquisition tax due at purchase. Estimate the up-front tax with the acquisition tax calculator, or the annual holding cost with the property tax calculator. This guide reflects information as of 2026-07-19; standard rates and deductions can change, so confirm specifics with the National Tax Service and a licensed tax accountant.