How to register a company in Korea 2026

The Quick Answer: How to Register a Company in Korea

How to register a company in Korea comes down to six steps. First, choose your entity type; most foreign investors form a Chusik Hoesa (joint-stock company) or a Yuhan Hoesa (limited company). Verify the company name through the Supreme Court Internet Registry Office. Second, file the foreign-investment (FDI) notification with a designated foreign-exchange bank or KOTRA. Third, remit the paid-in capital into a temporary account; KRW 100 million per investor secures registered foreign-invested status and the D-8 visa. Fourth, file the incorporation documents with the Commercial Registry. Fifth, obtain the Business Registration Certificate from the National Tax Service (NTS) within 20 days of business commencement. Sixth, open the corporate bank account and complete foreign-invested-enterprise (FIE) registration. Core registry work takes only 3–5 business days, while a complete foreign-invested setup typically takes 4–8 weeks from start to finish.

Who Needs to Register a Company in South Korea?

South Korea is Asia's fourth-largest economy and a leader in semiconductors, electronics, and automotive manufacturing. Free economic zones and R&D incentives add to the pull for foreign businesses. Before any of that opportunity is available, a foreign company that wants to hire staff, sign contracts, or invoice customers locally must register a legal presence with the Korean authorities.

Three groups typically need to register. Investors building a long-term operation form a subsidiary, usually a Chusik Hoesa or a Yuhan Hoesa. Foreign companies that want local revenue without a separate entity open a branch office. Businesses still testing the market open a liaison office, which cannot earn revenue. This guide explains how to register a company in Korea for each of these routes.

Entity Types: Chusik Hoesa, Yuhan Hoesa, Branch, and Liaison Office

Your entity choice fixes your liability, tax position, visa options, and audit exposure, so settle it before any filing. The four structures below cover almost every foreign market entry. Most investors choose between the two subsidiary forms, each of which needs only one shareholder and one director, with no nationality or residency requirement.

Requirements and Documents Checklist

The baseline requirements are light. A Chusik Hoesa or Yuhan Hoesa needs just one shareholder and one director, and neither role carries a nationality or residency requirement. A representative director is mandatory, though local residency is optional, and Korea has no company-secretary requirement. You do, however, need a Korean registered office address in place before you file. Prepare the following documents:

• Articles of incorporation setting out the company's objectives, capital, and governance.
• Passport scans of all shareholders and directors; for corporate shareholders, the parent company's legal representative plus any shareholder holding over 25%.
• Proof of address for each shareholder and director: a utility bill or bank statement with an English translation, showing name, address, and date, issued within one month.
• For corporate shareholders: the parent company's business licence or registration proof plus its articles of association, with English translations.
• A Korean registered-office address, secured through a lease or a provider address.
• A bank certificate confirming the capital deposit, plus the company seal certificate.

Foreign-issued documents generally need notarization or consular legalization together with certified translations, and defects here are a leading cause of rejected filings. The articles of incorporation themselves normally require notarization, but companies with capital under KRW 1 billion incorporated by unanimous promoter consent are exempt from notarial certification under the Korean Commercial Act.

Minimum Capital: The KRW 100 Million Threshold

Korea sets no meaningful statutory minimum share capital for most entity types, but KRW 100 million per foreign investor — held with at least 10% of voting shares — is the threshold for registered foreign-invested status under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act (FIPA). The same KRW 100 million is the capital basis for the D-8 investor visa. Nominal capital is legally possible on the domestic path. In practice, banks and licensing bodies make very low capital unworkable, and formation agencies commonly reference KRW 10 million as a practical working figure rather than a legal rule. The decision framework is simple. If no founder needs a D-8 visa — a D-9 (trade management) visa is the alternative pathway for other setups — modest capital can suffice. If you want FDI registration or the D-8 route, plan for KRW 100 million from the start. Remit it from the overseas investor's own account into a temporary paid-in capital account before incorporation, because using the wrong channel breaks FDI recognition. Ownership of the funds transfers to the company after registration.

Step-by-Step Process and Timeline

Here is how to register a company in Korea in six steps, in the order the authorities expect. Sequence matters: the FDI notification must precede the registry filing, and the capital must arrive before incorporation.

1. Choose your structure and verify the company name. Reserve the name through the Supreme Court Internet Registry Office (인터넷등기소) and run a KIPO search for trademark conflicts.
2. File the foreign-investment (FDI) notification with a designated foreign-exchange bank or with KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) — always before the registry filing.
3. Open the temporary paid-in capital account and remit the capital from the overseas investor's own account. Ownership transfers to the company after registration.
4. File the incorporation documents with the competent registry office of the court — the Commercial Registry within the Supreme Court of Korea registry system.
5. Obtain the Business Registration Certificate from the National Tax Service through the district tax office. The application is due within 20 days of business commencement.
6. Open the corporate bank account and complete foreign-invested-enterprise (FIE) registration, the final step that confirms your FDI status.

Registration Costs and Capital Planning

Two cost blocks drive your budget. The first is government charges: registration-related taxes and fees scale with the registered capital you declare, so a KRW 100 million company pays more at the registry than a nominal-capital one. The second is professional fees for formation agents, translators, notaries, and consular legalization, which vary with how many foreign documents your shareholders bring.

Capital planning matters more than fee shopping. The amount you inject determines your FDI status, D-8 eligibility, registry charges, and how credible your company looks to Korean banks. Decide the capital figure first — nominal capital, the KRW 10 million practical reference, or the KRW 100 million FIPA threshold — and let the fee schedule follow from that choice.

Post-Registration Obligations

Registration is not the finish line. Open the corporate bank account, and make sure the Business Registration Certificate application reaches the National Tax Service within 20 days of business commencement. Some regulated activities also need sector licences before trading starts, so map those approvals early.

Once you hire, enrol staff in all four social-insurance schemes: the National Pension Service, National Health Insurance, Employment Insurance, and Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance. Annual financial statements are mandatory under K-GAAP or K-IFRS, and a statutory external audit applies above size thresholds — a duty that has extended to Yuhan Hoesa since FY2020. TKEG Expat's accounting service in Korea keeps these filings on schedule.

Corporate Tax Rates and Filing in 2026

Korea's 2025 tax reform raised every corporate income tax band by 1 percentage point. The National Assembly approved it on 2 December 2025, and it applies to fiscal years beginning on or after 1 January 2026. Many foreign guides still show the superseded 9–24% rates, so check anything you read against the current bands below. Corporate capital gains are taxed at the standard CIT rates, with no separate flat rate, and the standard VAT rate is 10%. Our Korea corporate income tax guide tracks the full detail.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Most delayed or rejected Korean incorporations trace back to the same five errors. Each one costs weeks, and the first two can force you to restart the FDI process entirely.

• Remitting capital before the temporary paid-in capital account is open, or through the wrong channel — either breaks FDI recognition.
• Filing the Commercial Registry application before completing the FDI notification with the designated bank or KOTRA.
• Document defects: missing notarization or consular legalization of foreign documents, or missing certified translations.
• Choosing the wrong entity type or address arrangement — for example, a liaison office that cannot invoice — and paying for costly amendments later.
• Underestimating the foreign-invested timeline, which runs in weeks, against the faster domestic-only registry timeline measured in days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Register Your Company in Korea with TKEG Expat

TKEG Expat delivers complete South Korea incorporation for corporate clients: entity selection, FDI notification, capital remittance through the correct channel, Commercial Registry filing, NTS business registration, the corporate bank account, and final FIE registration. One team carries the file from name check to a fully compliant operating company. Start with our Korea company incorporation service.