How to Check If You Prepaid Korean Car Tax on Wetax

As of October 2026, the most reliable way to find out whether you prepaid your Korean car tax (the annual lump-sum option known as yeonnap) is to sign in to Wetax, Korea's national local-tax portal, and open your payment results for the current year. Vehicles registered in Seoul can also be checked on Seoul's own ETAX website or the STAX app. The amount itself follows a simple structure: the annual tax minus 5% of the tax for the months you paid ahead, plus a 30% local education tax. If you know your engine size and the age of the car, you can recalculate the figure on your receipt.

This guide focuses on verifying a payment rather than applying for one. It is based on the Government Call Center (110) answer on car tax prepayment and on tax guidance published by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and other local governments. The rules apply to cars registered in Korea, including those owned by foreign residents, since Wetax offers membership for both Korean nationals and foreigners.

How to find your car tax payment history on Wetax

According to the Wetax user guide, payment history sits under the payment results menu after you sign in. It brings together local taxes, non-tax local revenue, environmental improvement charges and water bills, lets you filter what you have paid, and lets you print a payment receipt. A practical sequence looks like this:

1. Sign in to Wetax or the Smart Wetax app. If you are not a member but the system holds your taxpayer details, the non-member login still covers the main filing, payment, application and certificate services.
2. Set the search period from January 1 of this year to today. A short default window can hide a payment made in January or March.
3. Look for entries whose tax item is car tax (jadongcha-se) and note the payment date, the vehicle and the amount. If you own more than one car, match the plate number.
4. Print the receipt, or request a payment confirmation certificate from the certificate menu. Wetax lists online certificates as free, though an online request requires a joint certificate (the Korean digital certificate).

The month you paid is the main clue. A payment in January or March means you settled the year in advance. A June payment could be either the regular first-half bill or a June prepayment, so compare the amount. A September payment is never a regular bill: it is either a prepayment or an installment. Korea also lets owners split the annual tax into quarters paid in March, June, September and December, so a March or September amount close to one quarter of the annual tax points to installments rather than prepayment, as Seoul's car tax overview explains.

Seoul works slightly differently. The 110 guidance notes that Seoul applications are restricted on Wetax during the January window and directs Seoul residents to ETAX or their district office. If your car is registered in Seoul and you paid in January, check ETAX or STAX as well. Seoul also says refunds after selling or scrapping a prepaid car can be requested through ETAX and STAX (Seoul announcement).

Reading your bills: what a missing bill does and does not mean

Under Korea's Local Tax Act the car tax is normally billed twice a year: the first half in June (due June 16 to 30) and the second half in December (due December 16 to 31), according to Seocho District's tax guide. If you prepaid in January, you would usually not receive a regular June or December bill for that car.

A missing bill is not proof on its own, though:

• Annual tax of KRW 100,000 or less. Seoul explains that these vehicles are billed once in June, with the second-half amount included after a 5% deduction. A 998cc light car comes to 998 × KRW 80 = KRW 79,840, so it never gets a December bill anyway.
• June prepayment. A June prepayment only covers the second half (July to December). The first-half bill still has to be paid separately, and the discount is not applied retroactively, according to 110. Two payments in June can therefore be perfectly normal.
• Electronic notices or a change of address. If you switched to e-billing or moved, the absence of a paper bill says little. Wetax history is the final word.

Once you have prepaid, a January filing notice is sent the following year without a new application. Seoul confirms this, and the Taebaek city notice says the same. The common trap is that the prepayment cannot be paid by automatic debit, as Seoul points out, so you must pay it yourself within the window. Taebaek adds that if the deadline passes, the prepayment request is cancelled and the tax is billed in June and December with no discount. A newly purchased car needs its own application; the history of your previous car does not carry over.

2026 discount rates and payment windows

The rate has changed over time, so always check the year. Seoul and Seocho list the lump-sum discount as 10% up to 2022, 7% in 2023 and 5% from 2024. For 2026, 110 confirms a deduction of up to 5% for the period after the payment deadline.

The 5% applies only to the months you pay ahead, not to the whole year. The later you pay, the smaller the effective discount. The 2026 schedule published by 110:

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Prepay in	2026 window	Months discounted	Formula (110)	Share of annual tax
January	Jan 14 to Feb 4 (Wetax)	Feb to Dec	annual tax × 335/366 × 5%	about 4.57%
March	Mar 16 to 31	Apr to Dec	annual tax × 275/366 × 5%	about 3.76%
June	Jun 16 to 30	Jul to Dec	annual tax × 184/366 × 5%	about 2.52%
September	Sep 16 to 30	Oct to Dec	annual tax × 92/366 × 5%	about 1.26%

110 describes September as about 2.5% of the second-half tax, while Taebaek states it as about 1.26% of the annual tax. Since the second half is half the annual amount, these are the same.

January deadlines varied by local government: Jan 14 to Feb 4 on Wetax according to 110, Jan 16 to Feb 2 on Seoul ETAX and STAX, and Jan 16 to Jan 31 in Taebaek. Use the notice from the local government where your car is registered. Two further limits from 110: cars with an annual tax under KRW 100,000 can only prepay in January or March, and Wetax only accepts applications from the signed-in owner. To check a family member's car, you need to sign in as the registered owner.

How to calculate the amount you should have paid

Start with the annual tax. For non-commercial passenger cars, it is engine displacement multiplied by a per-cc rate. Seoul's guidance sets the rate at KRW 80 per cc up to 1,000cc, KRW 140 up to 1,600cc and KRW 200 above 1,600cc. A 30% local education tax is then added.

Vehicle age matters too. Seocho explains that non-commercial passenger cars receive a 5% reduction from the third year, rising 5% a year to a maximum of 50% from the twelfth year. The starting date depends on whether the car was first registered in the first or second half of the year, so take the vehicle age printed on your bill or Wetax assessment.

The calculation:

1. Annual tax = displacement × per-cc rate × (1 − age reduction)
2. Prepayment discount = annual tax × the formula for your month
3. Car tax paid = annual tax − discount
4. Local education tax = car tax paid × 30%
5. Total paid = car tax paid + local education tax

Take a 1,998cc non-commercial car with no age reduction. The annual tax is 1,998 × KRW 200 = KRW 399,600. Paid in the usual two bills, the education tax adds KRW 119,880 for a yearly total of KRW 519,480.

Prepaid in January 2026, the discount is KRW 399,600 × 335/366 × 5% ≈ KRW 18,288. The car tax falls to about KRW 381,312, the education tax to about KRW 114,394, and the total to about KRW 495,706, roughly KRW 23,774 less than paying in two bills. Because the education tax is proportional, it shrinks as well. Prepaid in March, the discount is about KRW 15,012 and the total about KRW 499,964.

If your receipt differs by only a few won, rounding is the likely reason. A gap of several thousand won suggests the vehicle age, displacement or month needs another look; if it still does not reconcile, ask the local tax office for the basis of the assessment. When a car changes hands, the tax is prorated by the number of days owned according to the registration date, so a year with a sale or purchase will not match this example.

What to do if you think you paid twice

If a June or December bill arrives after you prepaid, check the tax period and plate number first. A June prepayer still owes the first half, so a June bill can be correct. But if you paid the annual tax in January and then also paid both regular bills, you may have paid the same period twice.

• In Wetax payment results, look for two or more car tax entries for the same car and period, and save each receipt.
• Open the Wetax refund menu. The user guide says you can view your refunds by tax item, apply for all or selected items, and track decisions and completed refunds.
• If nothing shows up, contact the tax department of the city, county or district where the car is registered, or call 110 (no area code, 24 hours a day, every day).

Selling or scrapping a prepaid car is a different case: Seoul says you can reclaim the tax for the rest of the year after the ownership period. If you find no payment at all, you may simply have missed the window and owe the regular bills. Seoul warns that unpaid car tax can lead to penalties, license plate seizure and asset seizure, and Seocho notes that proof of full payment is needed when transferring a car's registration. Save your receipt as a PDF once you have confirmed it.

Sources

• 정부민원안내콜센터 자주묻는질문: 위택스에서 자동차세 연납 신청 가능한가요?
• 서울특별시: 자동차세, 미리 내고 5% 절감! 감세 혜택 놓치지 마세요!
• 위택스 이용안내(납부확인·환급신청·발급안내)
• 서울특별시 [세목별 안내] 자동차세
• 태백시청: 2026년 자동차세 연납 신청 및 납부 안내
• 서초구 세금알아보기: 자동차세(소유분)