The surcharge is back — but a relief bill landed on 3 August

When a multi-home owner sells a home in an adjustment target zone, a surcharge is added to the base rate. It was suspended for four years from 10 May 2022, and that suspension ended on 9 May 2026. It applies again to disposals from 10 May.

In a release of 12 February 2026 the government stated that the measure would end on the date originally set, for the sake of predictability and confidence in policy, explicitly closing the door on an extension.

With the surcharge, a household owning two homes adds 20%p to the base rate and one owning three or more adds 30%p. The base rate on a taxable base up to ₩500M is 40%, so three homes gives 70%. Local income tax of 10% of the capital gains tax is charged separately on top.

The easily missed part is the long-term holding deduction. Fall within the surcharge and it is denied entirely. The rate rises and so does what the rate multiplies, the taxable base itself. That is why a 1.75× rise in the rate produces a 2.4× rise in the tax.

This stings most for those who held longest. Ten or twenty years of ownership does nothing at all to reduce the tax.

There is a way through, though. Where a sale contract was signed, or land transaction permission applied for, by 9 May 2026, the surcharge is disapplied provided the disposal completes by the regional balance-payment deadline. The original rule required the disposal itself by that date, but land transaction permission takes 15 business days to process, making that physically impossible in some cases, so it was relaxed twice.

The definition of a contract is strict. A provisional agreement, or a pre-permission arrangement made before land transaction permission, does not count. A sale contract must have been signed and the deposit received, evidenced by documents.

Look at how the test works. Whether the surcharge applies turns on whether the home is in an adjustment target zone as at the date of disposal. Even if the area was unregulated when you bought, designation at the time you sell brings you within it.

That is the law as it actually stands, applied from 10 May 2026. Then on 3 August 2026 the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced, at the Tax Development Deliberation Committee, a bill temporarily lowering the surcharge rates for multi-home owners, three months after the surcharge resumed.

🔴 The year-by-year surcharge rates in the bill are taken from press reporting; we have not read the statutory text itself. So every calculation and table on this page stays on the current rules. We will update after the National Assembly passes it and the text is promulgated.

Here is where it splits in practice. Anyone selling now files and pays at the current surcharge rates. If the bill passes, the difference comes back later. It does not mean you can pay a lower rate today. On the other side, the reason to rush a sale out of fear of the surcharge is weaker.

This calculation reflects the general structure only. The one-house exemption, the temporary two-home relief, reliefs on inheritance or marriage, and the various reductions are conditional in ways too involved to include. The 20% long-term holding deduction is an assumption, and the real rate varies with years of ownership and residence. If any of this might apply to you, have it confirmed by a tax professional.