Korean Vehicle Acquisition Tax Calculator

Buying a vehicle means paying more than the sticker price, and the largest extra is acquisition tax, paid when the vehicle is registered. It is the price multiplied by a rate that depends on the class of vehicle: passenger car, light car, van or truck, commercial vehicle, or motorcycle. Choose the class and enter the price, and this calculator shows the acquisition tax.

You can also enter the public bond that has to be bought at registration. The bond is issued by the local authority; most buyers sell it straight back and lose only the discount. Enter the purchase amount and the discount rate and the real cost is added to the tax, giving the total registration outlay and its share of the price.

Anyone about to sign for a car who wants the full outlay, not just the price. Most of the gap between what the dealer quotes and what leaves your account comes from here. If you are weighing a passenger car against a light car, seeing the rate difference in won helps.

Used-car buyers need it too. Acquisition tax falls on whoever newly takes ownership, new or used, so it is paid again when the transfer is registered. Motorcycle buyers should check first which side of the displacement line their bike falls on, because the rate more than doubles across it.

The rates are in 지방세법 제12조제1항제2호. A private-use passenger car is 7%, and the proviso to the same subparagraph lowers a light car to 4%. A private-use van or truck that is not a passenger car is 5%, and a licensed commercial vehicle is 4%. A motorcycle of 125cc or less, or with rated output of 12kW or less, is 2% under 나목 of the same subparagraph and 시행령 제12조제3항; anything larger is treated not as a motorcycle but as an "other vehicle" at 5%.

Some motorcycles are not taxed at all. 지방세법 시행령 제7조제1항 excludes any two-wheeler under 50cc, or with rated output of 4kW or less, from the definition of a taxable vehicle. Many small scooters and electric motorcycles fall here.

The calculation is simply the acquisition price times the rate. The price is the vehicle price excluding VAT. For the bond, the purchase amount times the discount rate gives the real cost, which is added to the tax for the total. Filing and payment are due within 60 days of acquisition, though in practice they are handled with the registration transfer.

Suppose you buy a ₩35 million passenger car for private use. At 7% the acquisition tax is ₩2,450,000. If you also have to buy ₩3 million of bonds and lose 8% selling them back at once, the bond costs ₩240,000, for a total of ₩2,690,000 or 7.69% of the price. The same ₩35 million spent on a light car would be taxed at 4%, ₩1,400,000, a saving of ₩1,050,000.

For a motorcycle the displacement line is decisive. A ₩5 million bike at 125cc or below pays 2%, ₩100,000; above 125cc it pays 5%, ₩250,000, two and a half times as much. And below 50cc it is outside the tax entirely, so the figure is zero.

The most common error is entering the VAT-inclusive price. The tax base is the price excluding VAT, so the gross figure overstates the tax. The second is picking the wrong class. An SUV is a passenger car; a pickup registered as a goods vehicle is a van or truck. Follow the class on the registration certificate.

The third concerns used cars. The base is whichever of the declared price and the official assessed value the local authority accepts, so declaring far below the real price simply means the assessed value is used instead. The fourth is the bond. The purchase ratio and discount are set by each local authority's ordinance and vary by region and vehicle class; this calculator does not know them, so enter the terms for where you will register. Finally, this covers acquisition tax only. Registration fees, number plates and individual consumption tax relief are not included.