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Korea

#26 overall · Score 63.8 / 100 · up one place from 2025

Overall

#26

63.8 / 100

up one place from 2025

Corporate

#26

59.3 / 100

down three places from 2025

Individual

#38

39.0 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Consumption

#2

96.2 / 100

up one place from 2025

Property

#31

42.0 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Cross-border

#34

53.5 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Strengths

  • Korea has a low VAT of 10 percent that is applied to a relatively broad base, covering 69 percent of final consumption.
  • Korea has a broad tax treaty network with 96 countries.
  • Business investments in machinery and buildings receive better-than-average treatment for corporate write-offs.

Weaknesses

  • Korea has multiple distortionary property taxes with separate levies on real estate transfers, estates, and financial transactions.
  • The personal income tax rate on dividends is 44.5 percent (compared to an OECD average of 24.7 percent).
  • Korea operates a progressive corporate income tax system with four different tax brackets.

Component Scores

Korea category scores out of 100Corporate Taxes: score 59.3, rank 26. Individual Taxes: score 39.0, rank 38. Consumption Taxes: score 96.2, rank 2. Property Taxes: score 42.0, rank 31. Cross-Border Tax Rules: score 53.5, rank 34255075100Corporate Taxes: 59.3 (rank 26)Individual Taxes: 39.0 (rank 38)Consumption Taxes: 96.2 (rank 2)Property Taxes: 42.0 (rank 31)Cross-Border Tax Rules: 53.5 (rank 34)CorporateIndividualConsumptionPropertyCross-border
Category Rank Score vs 2025
Corporate Taxes #26 59.3 down three places from 2025
Individual Taxes #38 39.0 unchanged from 2025
Consumption Taxes #2 96.2 up one place from 2025
Property Taxes #31 42.0 unchanged from 2025
Cross-Border Tax Rules #34 53.5 unchanged from 2025

Ranking Changes, 2014–2026

Korea's best overall rank was 22nd and its worst was 31st. It ranks 26th in 2026.

Overall rank by year for KoreaKorea: 2014 rank 22, 2015 rank 22, 2016 rank 24, 2017 rank 24, 2018 rank 25, 2019 rank 26, 2020 rank 29, 2021 rank 31, 2022 rank 26, 2023 rank 27, 2024 rank 26, 2025 rank 27, 2026 rank 262014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026Korea 2014: rank 22Korea 2015: rank 22Korea 2016: rank 24Korea 2017: rank 24Korea 2018: rank 25Korea 2019: rank 26Korea 2020: rank 29Korea 2021: rank 31Korea 2022: rank 26Korea 2023: rank 27Korea 2024: rank 26Korea 2025: rank 27Korea 2026: rank 26#22#26

OECD Context

Each row places all 38 countries on a 0–100 score scale for one measure. Korea is highlighted; the dashed line is the OECD median.

All 38 Countries' Ranks

Overall and category ranks for all 38 countries
CountryOverallCorporateIndividualConsumptionPropertyCross-border
Estonia#1#2#1#24#1#7
Latvia#2#1#8#22#4#6
New Zealand#3#31#7#1#8#14
Switzerland#4#7#9#4#36#2
Lithuania#5#3#10#23#6#16
Luxembourg#6#20#21#7#15#5
Czech Republic#7#9#4#32#5#11
Australia#8#29#14#9#3#23
Turkey#9#21#6#15#22#8
Hungary#10#5#3#38#23#4
Israel#11#11#31#11#10#18
Slovak Republic#12#24#2#33#7#17
Sweden#13#6#18#26#9#12
Costa Rica#14#35#13#6#11#29
Canada#15#17#28#8#25#28
Netherlands#16#23#30#14#20#3
United States#17#8#17#3#27#37
Austria#18#18#27#17#17#10
Germany#19#30#34#13#12#9
Norway#20#15#29#27#16#15
Mexico#21#28#26#12#2#38
Finland#22#10#24#28#21#24
Greece#23#22#5#29#30#19
Chile#24#32#23#10#13#36
Slovenia#25#14#12#30#24#30
Korea#26#26#38#2#31#34
Belgium#27#16#15#25#28#21
Japan#28#36#35#5#26#31
Ireland#29#4#36#35#18#27
United Kingdom#30#25#22#34#33#1
Denmark#31#19#37#20#14#32
Poland#32#12#11#36#29#25
Portugal#33#34#19#21#19#33
Iceland#34#13#32#19#34#26
Spain#35#33#20#18#35#20
Italy#36#27#16#37#38#22
Colombia#37#37#25#16#37#35
France#38#38#33#31#32#13

Across the OECD

Korea ranks 26th of 38 OECD countries on the overall index.

Source: 2026 International Tax Competitiveness Index.

Notes on the Data

The 2026 Index uses the most up-to-date data available as of July 2026. Data may not reflect changes in countries making rapid reforms.

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About the Authors

Alex Mengden Tax Foundation
Expert

Alex Mengden

Economist

Alex Mengden is an Economist at the Tax Foundation, where he focuses on international tax issues and tax policy in Europe. He holds a BA in philosophy and economics from the University of Bayreuth and an MSc in economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Tax Foundation Staff

Luis Zarka

Transatlantic Tax Fellow

Luis Zarka was a 2026 Transatlantic Tax Fellow with the Tax Foundation’s Center for Global Tax Policy.

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Sarah Wilbur

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Vice President of Communications

Jesse Solis is Vice President of Communications at the Tax Foundation, where he leads the communications team and works to build coverage of Tax Foundation’s experts and their work across the globe. He joined the team in 2021 as Communications Manager and became Communications Director in 2024.