Foreign Buyer Reporting Deadline Calculator

This calculator works out the deadline by which a foreign national or foreign entity must report the acquisition of real estate in Korea. Choose how you acquired it, whether by purchase, by another kind of contract such as a gift or exchange, without a contract such as by inheritance or auction, or by keeping property you already owned after losing Korean nationality, enter the relevant date, and it shows the reporting deadline, the days left or days overdue as of today, and the maximum fine for a late report. It also flags whether the land is in a zone where a permit is required.

Being foreign does not stop you buying property in Korea. The issue is reporting. There is not one reporting duty but four, depending on how the property was acquired, each with its own deadline and its own provision. And ahead of all of that sits the question of permits: land in certain zones requires a permit before the contract is signed, and a contract signed without one has no legal effect. The calculator makes that order of priorities clear.

Foreign nationals and foreign companies buying a home or land in Korea, and the agents and legal staff handling the transaction. Run it on the day the contract is signed and you know exactly how many days you have, and can schedule the report so it does not collide with the balance payment or registration.

It also matters to people who acquired property without a contract. Foreigners who inherited from a parent or won a property at auction often do not know that a reporting duty exists at all. The same goes for someone who renounced or lost Korean nationality and simply kept the property they already owned: no purchase took place, yet a report is required and has its own deadline. Anyone buying land should use it before signing, to check whether the plot lies in a permit zone.

The basis is 부동산 거래신고 등에 관한 법률. For a purchase, supply contract or pre-sale right, the transaction report under 제3조제1항 doubles as the foreign acquisition report and is due within 30 days of the contract date. For any other contract, such as a gift or exchange, 제8조제1항 gives 60 days from the contract date. For acquisition without a contract, such as inheritance, auction or a court judgment, 제8조제2항 gives 6 months from the date of acquisition, and for a former Korean national who becomes a foreigner and keeps the property, 제8조제3항 gives 6 months from the date of the change.

The calculator adds the period from the relevant provision to the base date to find the deadline, then counts the days to or from today. Periods in days are added as days; periods in months are added as months, and if the result lands past the end of a month it is pulled back to that month's last day. The fines for a missed report also differ by cause: up to ₩5,000,000 for a purchase under 제28조제2항제1호, up to ₩3,000,000 for other contracts under 제28조제4항, and up to ₩1,000,000 each for non-contract acquisitions and nationality changes under 제28조제5항.

Permits are a different matter entirely. Under 제9조제1항, a foreigner acquiring land inside a military base or military facility protection zone, a designated cultural heritage or natural monument protection zone, an ecological and landscape conservation area, or a special wildlife protection area must obtain a permit before signing the contract. Under 제9조제3항 a land acquisition contract signed without the permit has no effect, and under 제26조제2항 the penalty is up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to ₩20,000,000. A late report costs a fine; a missing permit voids the contract and carries criminal liability.

Suppose a foreign national signs a contract to buy an apartment on 1 September and today is 15 September. It is a purchase, so the deadline is 30 days from the contract date, 1 October, and 16 days remain. If instead the contract signed that day was a gift from a parent, it is an "other contract" with 60 days, so the deadline is 31 October and 46 days remain. If the property was inherited on 31 March, the 6-month deadline falls on 30 September, leaving 15 days as of 15 September; September has no 31st, so the date is pulled back to the last day of the month.

Now suppose a land purchase contract was signed on 1 July and nothing has been done by 15 September. The deadline was 31 July, 46 days have passed, and a fine of up to ₩5,000,000 may follow. But if that land sits inside a military facility protection zone, the picture changes completely: a permit was needed before signing, so quite apart from the fine the contract has no effect, and the buyer faces up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to ₩20,000,000.

The most dangerous one is signing a land contract before checking whether the plot is in a permit zone. The permit comes before the contract, not after, and the omission cannot be repaired. A land use planning certificate shows whether the zone applies. Buying a building alone does not trigger the permit requirement.

The second is starting the clock from the wrong day. For purchases and other contracts, the period runs from the date the contract was signed, not from the balance payment or registration. If two months pass between contract and balance, the reporting deadline has already gone by. The third is assuming inheritance and a change of nationality are not reportable. Both are, under their own provisions, with a 6-month deadline.

The fourth is reading "foreigner" too narrowly. The term covers foreign companies and organisations as well as individuals, including a foreign company run by a Korean. Finally, there are things this calculator does not cover. How a deadline falling on a public holiday is treated, and the report forms themselves, are in the enforcement decree and rules; the acquisition tax after purchase and your tax residency status are handled by separate calculators.