Korean Annual Vehicle Tax Calculator

Owning a car in Korea means an annual vehicle tax. Unlike acquisition tax, which is paid once when you buy, this one keeps coming for as long as the car is registered. Enter a passenger car's engine displacement, its age, and whether it is private or commercial, and this calculator shows one year's vehicle tax, the local education surtax layered on top, the annual total of the two, and the amount billed each half-year.

Vehicle tax is set by displacement, not by price. An expensive car with a small engine pays little; an old car with a big engine pays a lot even if it is worth nothing. But there is an age reduction that cuts the bill a little each year you keep the car. Those two facts are the heart of this calculator.

Anyone comparing running costs while choosing a car. You can see how much the tax differs between two cars with slightly different engines, or how much an electric car saves. It is also useful when buying used: an older car carries a bigger reduction, so it pays less than a new car with the same engine.

It also serves anyone who has received a bill and wants to check it. If this half-year's amount is lower than last year's, the age reduction has stepped up; if it has suddenly gone up, the reduction may have been missed or something else added. Entering the displacement and age shows what the normal figure should be.

The rates are in 지방세법 제127조제1항. Passenger cars are taxed per cubic centimetre of displacement. For private use that is ₩80 per cc up to 1,000cc, ₩140 up to 1,600cc, and ₩200 above that. Commercial rates are far lower: ₩18 per cc up to 1,000cc and ₩24 even in the top band. A passenger car with no displacement, such as an electric vehicle, is taxed at a flat amount under 제3호 of the same paragraph, ₩100,000 a year for private use.

The age reduction is the formula in 제2호 of the same paragraph. From the car's 3rd year the tax drops by 5% each year, reaching 50% in year 12 and staying there. The year of first registration counts as year one. The statute writes the formula in terms of the half-yearly amount, but converting to an annual figure gives the same result.

The order is: multiply displacement by the per-cc rate to get the annual tax before reduction, subtract the age reduction, then add the local education surtax of 30% under 지방세법 제151조제1항제3호. Vehicle tax plus surtax is the annual total, billed in two halves in June and December.

Take a private 1,998cc car in its third year. At ₩200 per cc the tax before reduction is ₩399,600. The third year carries a 5% reduction, bringing it to ₩379,620, and the 30% surtax adds ₩113,886, for ₩493,506 a year or ₩246,753 per half. Keep the same car to its twelfth year and the reduction reaches 50%: ₩199,800 of vehicle tax, ₩59,940 of surtax, ₩259,740 in total. Roughly half the new-car figure.

A small difference in displacement matters a lot when it crosses a band. A private 1,598cc car in its first year is at ₩140 per cc: ₩223,720 of vehicle tax plus ₩67,116 of surtax, ₩290,836 in total. An electric car has no displacement, so it starts from the flat ₩100,000; in its third year the 5% reduction leaves ₩95,000, and with ₩28,500 of surtax the bill is ₩123,500.

The most common error is counting the car's age wrongly. The reduction does not wait for three full years after registration; it applies from the 3rd year counting the year of first registration as year one. The second is leaving out the education surtax. The bill prints vehicle tax and surtax together, so computing the vehicle tax alone understates the real figure by 30%.

The third is the band boundary. Go even slightly over 1,600cc and the rate becomes ₩200 per cc on the whole displacement. Use the actual figure on the registration certificate, not the rounded number in the brochure. Finally, this calculator handles passenger cars only. Vans, trucks and special vehicles use a different rate structure and the result will not match. The discount for paying the whole year in January is not included, and if you buy or sell mid-year the tax is prorated by days owned, so the first and last years will differ from the figures here.