Establishment of a Korea Office of a Foreign Corporation


Set-up Procedures

A foreign corporation which intends a taxable branch office or a nontaxable liaison office, is required to take the following legal procedures:

1. Report to a commercial bank in Korea;

2. Register with the commercial recording office of a district court

3. Register with the district tax office.





Contact:
Partner Kim Jin Gyu
I&S Legal agency .
e-mail : kim@insrecht.co.kr


I. Report to a Commercial Bank in Korea


A foreign corporation must report to a commercial bank the establishment of a Korea office with the following information and documents under the Foreign Exchange Control Law in Korea;

a.An application for the approval of establishment of the Korea office
b.A Business Plan of the Korea office,

c.A copy of the Articles of Incorporation of the foreign corporation.
If a certificate with the seal of the State is not issued, then
the copy must be notarized by a notary public in the home country.

d.A Certificate of Corporate Resolution by the foreign corporation
whichappoints the Representative (i.e., country manager) of the Korea office

e.A Certificate of Good Standing of the foreign company issued by the State
or a Certificate of Nationalty prepared by a company officer

f.A brochure or annual report of the foreign corporation

These documents are required to be notarized by a notary public in the home country except for the application, business plan, certificate of good standing and brochure or annual report.

Once all the documents are available to us in the final form, it will take about seven days to obtain the approval from the bank.

II. Registration of the Korea Office with the Court

After obtaining the banks acceptance of the report of establishment of the Korea office, the office should be registered with the Commercial Recording Office of the appropriate district court under the Korean Commercial Code. Upon completion of this registration, the Korea office is legally established and constitutes the legal existence of the foreign corporation.
In addition to the documents required in the I. above, we need the following information and documents for this purpose;

a.A Certificate of Corporate Resolution approving the establishment of
the Korea office
b.A Certificate of Corporate Information
c.An Acceptance Letter of the Korea offices representative (if a foreigner)
d.A Report of Seal of the Korea office (if the Korea offices representative
is a foreigner)


III. Registration of the Korea Office with the Tax Office

Upon completion of the registration of the Korea office with the court, the Korea office must be registered with the tax office which has jurisdiction over the Korea office. In addition to the documents required in the I. and II. above, we need the following documents;

a.A copy of the office lease agreement of the Korea office.

b.A copy of passport of the representative of the Korea office if he/she is
a foreigner.

Once these documents are available to us, it will take about 10 days to complete the registration.