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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.
Attached are detailed explanation on the procedures and forms of necessary documents.
Time Frame
We estimate that it would take three to four weeks to complete all the procedures to set up a Korean office of a foreign corporation.
Contact:
JIN GYU KIM
I & S Legal Agent
Tel: +82-2-3446-3959
Fax: +82-2-3446-3960
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 in the prescribed form.
b. A Business Plan of the Korea office, an English translation of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 1.
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. (by the company)
d. A Certificate of Corporate Resolution by the foreign corporation which appoints the Representative (i.e., country manager) of the Korea office, (by the company)
e. A Power of Attorney by the foreign company which appoints (me) of I&S Legal Agent as a lawful attorney, (by the company)
f. A Certificate of Good Standing of the foreign company issued by the State or a Certificate of Nationalty prepared by a company officer (by the company)
g. A brochure or annual report of the foreign corporation for our information. (by the company)
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, (by the company)
b. A Certificate of Corporate Information, (by the company)
c. An Acceptance Letter of the Korea offices representative
d. A Report of Seal of the Korea office (if the Korea offices representative is a foreigner), in the form attached hereto as
Exhibit . (by the company)
These documents must be notarized by a notary public in the home country. Other documents necessary for this purpose will be prepared by us locally.
As mentioned above, documents such as "c" and "d" are not necessary if the proposed Representative of the Korea Office is a Korean.
Once these documents are available to us, it will take about 5 days to complete the court registration.
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.
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