The filing window for comprehensive real estate holding tax (jonghapbudongsansae) exclusion runs from September 16 to September 30 — fifteen days. Miss it and even a qualifying rental unit lands in December's tax base. Korea's National Tax Service states in its guidance on excluded rental housing that only homes filed during this window are removed from the aggregated housing tax base.
The assessment date is June 1, and bills are issued and paid from December 1 to 15. The fortnight in late September wedged between them is the only opening to change the amount. After a first filing, no further submission is required as long as ownership and floor area do not change.
What the exclusion actually removes
Exclusion is not a discount — it removes the property from the tax base entirely. The housing tax base sums the assessed values of every home owned nationwide, and a home filed for exclusion never enters that sum. Because it shrinks the base rather than enlarging a deduction, the effect is large.
Requirements vary by rental category. The NTS sets out these principal thresholds.
| Rental category | Floor area | Minimum units | Assessed value cap | Rental period | Rent increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public/former private construction | 149㎡ or less | 2+ per province | 900m won or less | 5 years or more | 5% a year or less |
| Public/former private acquisition | No limit | 1+ nationwide | 600m won or less | 5 years or more | 5% a year or less |
| Pre-existing (before Jan 5, 2005) | 85㎡ or less | 2+ nationwide | 300m won or less | 5 years or more | — |
The value cap applies to the assessed value at the time eligibility is judged, not at acquisition. If the figure on your property tax notice has crossed the 600 million won line for acquired rentals, a unit that qualified last year may fall out this year. The 5% rent increase limit and the five-year mandatory rental period are subject to post-filing review: fail them later and the relieved tax is clawed back with an interest surcharge.
How far apart the two outcomes are
The housing tax base equals total nationwide assessed value, less a basic deduction, multiplied by a fair market value ratio of 60%. The deduction is 1.2 billion won for a single-household single-home owner and 900 million won otherwise. Plugging numbers into that structure shows what the filing is worth.
Assume one household owns three homes: the residence it occupies is assessed at 1 billion won, and two registered acquired-rental units at 500 million won each, both within the 600 million won cap. Rates come from the NTS housing rate schedule effective from 2023 — 0.5% up to 300 million won of base, 0.7% up to 600 million, 1.0% up to 1.2 billion, with the same rates applying at these brackets even for owners of three or more homes.
| Case | Aggregated value (100m won) | Deduction (100m won) | Tax base (100m won) | Computed tax (10k won) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filing missed | 20 | 9 | 6.6 | 420 |
| Exclusion filed only | 10 | 9 | 0.6 | 30 |
| Exclusion + single-home treatment | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
The 4.2 million won in the first row works out like this: 2 billion minus 900 million is 1.1 billion, times 60% gives a base of 660 million. The first 300 million at 0.5% is 1.5 million won; the 300-to-600 million band at 0.7% is 2.1 million; the final 60 million at 1.0% is 600,000 — totalling 4.2 million won. In the second row the two rentals drop out, leaving 1 billion; 1 billion minus 900 million is 100 million, times 60% gives a base of 60 million, taxed at 0.5% for 300,000 won. One form separates the two by 3.9 million won.
Exclusion does not cut the tax on a home. It keeps that home out of the addition in the first place.
These are computed amounts, not final bills. The actual notice deducts property tax already levied on the same home and applies a year-on-year burden cap, so it comes out lower. How property tax and holding tax divide the same assessed value is easier to see alongside the September property tax calculation.
More than rental housing qualifies
The NTS lists sixteen categories eligible for exclusion filing. Employee housing counts when provided to staff free or below market rate and sized at or under the national housing standard, and dormitories under the Building Act are included. Unsold new-build homes held by a housing construction and sales business must be within five years of the property tax liability date — a period extended to seven years for 2025 and 2026.
Licensed daycare centres operating for five years or more, housing for researchers at government-funded institutes, registered cultural heritage homes, rental-type senior welfare housing, unsold units transferred to a contractor in lieu of payment, and land attached to land-lease apartments all use the same filing channel. Homes acquired for a housing construction project and slated for demolition qualify too.
They share one trait: nothing drops out automatically. Meeting the requirements and being removed from the tax base are separate events, and the September form is what connects them.
Joint ownership and unit-count exemptions use the same window
Two further special treatments are claimed in the same period: the treatment for spouses jointly owning a single home, and the exemption that leaves certain homes out of the count when deciding single-home status.
Per NTS guidance, if a resident owns only one home plus qualifying special-treatment homes as of the assessment date, and no other household member owns a home, that person is treated as a single-household single-home owner. The deduction then rises from 900 million to 1.2 billion won. Without the claim, 900 million applies. That 300 million gap is exactly why the third row of the table above lands at zero.
Single-home status also brings tax credits: 20% at age 60, 30% at 65, 40% at 70 and above; 20% for five years of ownership, 40% for ten, 50% for fifteen or more, capped at 80% combined. The claim period is again September 16 to 30, and from the year after a first submission it carries over automatically absent any change.
The formula changes in 2027
The current structure is already slated for revision. As law firm Shin & Kim sets out in its brief on the 2026 tax reform proposals for asset taxation, the fair market value ratio for housing rises from 60% to 70% from January 1, 2027 for both single-home owners and owners of three or more homes or homes in regulated areas, then climbs in stages to 80% for the latter group from 2028.
The basic deduction splits on residence. A single-household single-home owner gets 1.4 billion won if living in the home and 900 million if not, while multiple-home owners move to a 400 million base deduction plus up to 500 million more in proportion to the value share of the home they occupy. Both apply to liabilities arising on or after January 1, 2027. The burden cap rises from 150% to 200%. From 2028, the rate schedule now used for owners of three or more homes applies above a 1.2 billion won tax base regardless of how many homes are held.
In short, this December's bill is computed on the existing basis — 900 million and 1.2 billion deductions at a 60% ratio — and the reform shows up from the 2027 bill onward. Anyone planning to restructure holdings still has to count backward from the June 1 assessment date, much as with the year-based deadlines that govern temporary two-home status.
What to check
- This year's assessed value for registered rentals — whether it has crossed 600 million won for acquired units or 900 million for constructed ones, verifiable from property tax records
- Whether the rent increase in the last lease exceeded 5% a year; a breach triggers clawback with an interest surcharge
- Whether ownership or floor area has changed since the first filing — if so, file again
- Whether the household holds only one home besides excluded rentals; if so, claim single-home treatment for the 1.2 billion won deduction
- For spouses jointly owning one home, which is better: joint-share assessment or the single-home treatment
- Whether your age and holding period sit near a credit threshold (60/65/70 years old; 5/10/15 years held)
- That the deadline is September 30 — allow margin for congestion on the Hometax portal near the close
Sources
- Comprehensive real estate holding tax: exclusion and special treatment filing — National Tax Service
- Categories eligible for exclusion and special treatment — National Tax Service
- Comprehensive real estate holding tax rates — National Tax Service
- Homes excluded when determining single-household single-home status — National Tax Service
- 2026 tax reform proposals II: asset taxation — Shin & Kim