Licensing & tax guide

Short-term rental licensing & tax in South Korea

City homestays are legal only as a registered Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay (외국인관광 도시민박업). The host must live in the home, guests must be foreign tourists, and the home must be a house or apartment under 230 sq m. Airbnb now requires a registration certificate for every listing in Korea.

At a glance

Licensing steps

1. Register as a Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay with the city, county or district office before opening, under the Tourism Promotion Act. The operator must be an individual who actually lives in the home (resident registration required). Companies can't register.
2. Eligible homes are detached houses, multi-household houses, apartments, row houses and multi-family houses with total floor area under 230 sq m, in urban areas. Officetels and studio-style one-room units can't register.
3. Guests must be foreign tourists. Korean guests are allowed only at village enterprises under urban regeneration plans, or in Seoul and Busan through regulatory-sandbox platforms (Wehome, Mister Mansion). The sandbox route for unregistered hosts (Type A) stopped taking new hosts on 1 Aug 2026; existing Type A permits run to 31 Dec 2027.
4. Requirements include foreign-language guest information, at least one fire extinguisher, a smoke detector in every guest room and a carbon-monoxide alarm where heating is individual.
5. For apartments, check the complex's management rules. Registrars typically ask for consent from a majority of residents on your stairwell or corridor and from the units directly beside, above and below.
6. From 4 Aug 2026, homestays must post their room rates. Failing to post them, or charging more than posted, brings a 5-day business suspension on the first offense.
7. Airbnb only accepts Korean listings with a registration certificate. The rule has applied to new listings since Oct 2024 and to all listings since 16 Oct 2025.

Tax notes

• Register the business with the tax office (or Hometax) within 20 days of starting. Homestays in cities need the district's tourism business registration certificate to do this.
• Hosts with annual sales under ₩104 million are simplified VAT taxpayers. Simplified taxpayers with sales under ₩48 million don't pay VAT but still file.
• Comprehensive income tax is filed each May for the previous year.

Cities in South Korea

Sources