If a non-resident stays in Korea briefly to provide personal services — a lecture, consulting, a performance — and is paid for it, that payment is Korean-source personal service income withheld at 20% (a treaty rate may reduce this). For example, a US resident who gives a one-day seminar lecture in Korea has 20% (or the treaty rate) withheld from the fee before payment.
The same logic applies to short-term programs like a summer English camp with multiple instructors. As long as the stay is under 183 days, withholding alone typically settles the non-resident's entire tax liability, with no further filing required.
Withholding checkpoints for short-term services
How a short-term summer English camp instructor is handled
Foreign instructors joining a short-term (a few weeks) summer English camp are usually non-residents whose tax liability is fully settled by the 20% withholding on personal service income. If from a treaty country, applying the reduced treaty rate can lower the burden.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Topics
Withholding Tax Rates on Korean-Source Income
A quick-reference table of statutory withholding rates for a non-resident's interest, dividend, royalty, and personal-service income.
Tax Duties of Foreign English Teachers and Freelance Instructors
How taxation differs between an academy-employed teacher (wage income) and a freelance instructor (business income), and treaty exemptions.