Selling a detached house, a 200㎡ yard costs you ₩84.62M more
Sell a detached house with its yard and not all of the yard counts as the house. Only the land within the building's footprint times a regional multiple counts as house land; the yard beyond that is taxed separately as land. The excess gets neither the one-house exemption nor the long-holding deduction table that reaches 80%. On a Seoul urban-area house with a 100㎡ footprint and 500㎡ of land sold for ₩2B, a tax of ₩18.09M becomes ₩102.71M.
Conditions used in the calculation
- Area
- Urban area, capital region residential/commercial/industrial (3×)
- Building footprint
- 100㎡
- Total land
- 500㎡
- Sale price
- ₩2B (building ₩300M · land ₩1.7B)
- Purchase price
- ₩800M (building ₩150M · land ₩650M)
- Costs
- ₩30M
- Holding and residence
- held 15 years · lived 10 years
- Houses owned
- one house · non-regulated area at purchase
Results
- House land limit
- 300㎡ (100㎡ × 3)
- Area taxed as land
- 200㎡
- Tax on the house share (computed alone)
- about ₩680,000
- Tax on the excess land (computed alone)
- about ₩89.07M
- Total tax (combined progressive · incl. local tax)
- ₩102.71M
- If the yard were within the limit
- ₩18.09M
- Extra cost of the excess yard
- ₩84.62M
At a glance
The 300㎡ within the limit is house, so it gets the exemption and table 2. The 200㎡ beyond is land and gets neither.
- 300㎡ within the limit: taxable9% of the gain
only the part above ₩1.2B
- 200㎡ excess: taxable100% of the gain
no exemption
- 300㎡ within the limit: long-holding deduction80% (table 2)
- 200㎡ excess: long-holding deduction30% (table 1)
Why it works this way
People sell a detached house, calculate it the way they would an apartment, and the tax comes back several times larger. The yard is usually why.
The law does not treat a yard as house without limit. Only the land within the building's footprint times a regional multiple counts as the house's land. Land beyond that limit is not house; it is land.
Footprint, not gross floor area.
- Building footprint100㎡
- × multiple (urban area, capital region)3
- Treated as house land300㎡
- Of the 500㎡, the part beyond200㎡ → land
A three-storey house that touches the ground over 100㎡ has a footprint of 100㎡. Use the 300㎡ gross floor area and you set the limit three times too high.
The multiple changes with the area. Within an urban area, capital region residential, commercial and industrial zones are the tightest at 3×; capital region green zones and urban areas outside the capital region are 5×; outside urban areas it is 10×. The dearer the land, the tighter the limit.
Yard area treated as house, on a 100㎡ footprint.
- Urban · capital region residential/commercial/industrial300㎡
- Urban · capital region green zone500㎡
- Urban · outside the capital region500㎡
- Outside urban areas1,000㎡
So what changes for the 200㎡ beyond the limit? Two things go at once.
First, the one-house exemption does not apply. It is not a house. Within the 300㎡ limit only the gain above ₩1.2B is taxed, which in this case is 9% of the gain; on the 200㎡ excess the whole gain is taxable.
Second, the long-holding deduction table changes. A one-house owner gets table 2, which is 4% a year for holding plus 4% a year for living there, up to 80%. Land gets table 1 only: 2% a year, up to 30%. Fifteen years of holding still stops at 30%.
Same fifteen years of holding, different outcome.
- 300㎡ within the limitexemption yes · table 2 at 80%
- 200㎡ excessexemption no · table 1 at 30%
If the excess is also judged non-business land, the whole rate table moves to the heavier one (소득세법 제104조제1항제8호). This calculation treats it as business land.
There is one more thing people get wrong: what actually gets apportioned.
Only the land price is split. The building is house in full, so there is nothing to divide by area. Split the whole ₩2B by area ratio and the error grows with the value of the building.
The 60% area ratio applies only to the ₩1.7B of land.
- Building ₩300Mall house
- Land ₩1.7B × 300/500₩1.02B → house
- Land ₩1.7B × 200/500₩680M → land
In total the tax here, local income tax included, is ₩102.71M. Computed alone, the house share is ₩680,000 and the excess yard ₩89.07M, but in practice the two are added into one year's capital gain and taxed at progressive rates, then local income tax is added, so the total is larger than their sum. Had the yard been 300㎡ or less, ₩18.09M would have covered it. The difference is ₩84.62M.
So if you plan to sell a detached house or a country house with a wide yard, work out the limit before you fix the date. Splitting the plot or changing how you sell may still be open to you. It turns on your own circumstances, so have a tax professional check it.
The legal basis
Drawn from government announcements and the statutes themselves as primary sources, covering only the relevant part.
소득세법 제89조제1항제3호
In force Current law
Income from transferring one house per household, together with the land attached to it within the area found by multiplying the building's footprint by the regional multiple set by Presidential Decree, is exempt.
What this means
The exemption reaches only as far as the footprint times the multiple. Yard beyond that is land, not house, so the same plot sold on the same day is taxed along two separate tracks.
소득세법 시행령 제154조제7항
In force Current law
The multiple is 3 for residential, commercial and industrial zones within the capital region inside an urban area, 5 for green zones within the capital region and for land outside the capital region, and 10 for land outside urban areas.
What this means
The same 500㎡ yard is house only up to 300㎡ in Seoul, but entirely house outside an urban area, where the limit is 1,000㎡. The limit is drawn tightest where land costs most.
소득세법 제95조제2항 표1·표2
In force Current law
The long-holding deduction uses table 1 (2% a year of holding, up to 30%) as a rule, but an asset qualifying as one house per household uses table 2 (4% a year of holding up to 40% plus 4% a year of residence up to 40%, up to 80% in total).
What this means
Yard beyond the limit is not a house, so it cannot use table 2. Fifteen years of holding still stops at 30%, and the gap widens the longer you have owned the place.
소득세법 시행령 제160조
In force Current law
For a high-value house sold above ₩1.2B, the taxable gain is the whole gain multiplied by (sale price − ₩1.2B) ÷ sale price.
What this means
The house share is taxed only to the extent it exceeds ₩1.2B. That is why the tax on the house share falls to ₩680,000 here, and the excess land gets no such apportionment at all.
소득세법 제104조제1항제8호
In force Current law
Gains on non-business land are taxed at the basic rates plus 10 percentage points.
What this means
If the excess yard is judged non-business land, the rate table itself gets heavier. This calculation treats it as business land, so the real tax would be higher if it applies.
Run it on your own numbers
The calculator opens with these conditions already filled in. Change the figures and your own case comes straight out.
Open the Detached House Sale Capital Gains Tax Calculator
Frequently asked
Is footprint the same as gross floor area?
No. It is the area where the building meets the ground. A three-storey house with 300㎡ of gross floor area but 100㎡ touching the ground has a footprint of 100㎡. Using gross floor area sets the limit three times too high.
Do apartments have the same problem?
Effectively no. An apartment's share of land is small next to its floor area, so it rarely exceeds the limit. This is a detached-house and country-house problem.
If there is an excess, does the house part lose the exemption too?
No. The house and the land within the limit keep the one-house exemption and the table 2 deduction. Only the excess is calculated separately as land. That is why the tax on the house share here is only ₩680,000.
Can I just split the whole sale price by area ratio?
No. Only the land price is split. The building is house in full and is not divided by area. Splitting the whole price by area ratio goes badly wrong the more the building is worth.
Can I sell the yard off in advance?
Sold apart from the house, that land is not attached land but a plain sale of land, and no exemption attaches at all. The order and the timing change the outcome a great deal, so speak to a tax professional before you act.
Can I rely on this calculator alone?
No. It assumes one house per household and shows the split between the land limit and the excess. In practice, how many houses you are counted as owning, whether the land is non-business, and whether the plot is divided often ride on the same sale. Have a professional check it before you file.
Results are estimates based on the inputs and on the rules as at the stated date. They may differ from a lender's actual assessment, and the rules change often. Take professional advice before any decision that matters.