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Incorporation · Branch office · Liaison office

Open your Korean entitywithout flying to Seoul.

A local corporation, a branch of your existing company, or a liaison office — filed end to end by a licensed Korean law firm. One engagement covers the foreign investment report, the court registration and the tax office, at a professional fee agreed before we start.

Leviathan Legal Support · Hyunseo Lim, Attorney at Law · Gangnam, Seoul

Start your setupSee what it costs
FDI companyUSD 3,000professional fee, turn-keyBranch officeUSD 3,000professional fee, turn-keyLiaison officeUSD 2,500professional fee, turn-key
Professional fees. Korean government taxes and court charges are separate and quoted at cost.
Three ways in

Pick the structurebefore you pick a price.

A foreign business can enter Korea as a company of its own, as a branch of the company it already has, or as an office that does not sell anything. The three are taxed differently, carry liability differently, and are not equally easy to unwind — so the choice is worth ten minutes before it is worth a quote.

Option 01

Local Corporation / FDI Company

USD 3,000professional fee, turn-key

A Korean company that you own. Invest KRW 100 million or more and it is classified as a foreign-invested company, which opens the door to the D-8 investor visa and, in specific cases, to tax incentives the Korean government offers foreign investors.

  • Separate Korean legal entity, owned by you or your company
  • KRW 100 million minimum foreign investment for FDI status
  • D-8 investor visa eligibility for the investor or a dispatched executive
  • Full commercial activity, Korean corporate tax treatment

Fits when: You want a real presence in Korea, local hiring, or a visa.

Option 02

Branch Office

USD 3,000professional fee, turn-key

An extension of your existing company rather than a new one. Head office and Korean branch remain a single legal entity, so no capital has to be put up to register. A branch may earn revenue in Korea and is taxed like a domestic company — but it does not get the incentives an FDI company can.

  • Registered as a foreign entity, not a Korean company
  • No registration capital requirement
  • Profit-generating activity permitted
  • Head office carries the liability

Fits when: You want to trade in Korea now, without setting up a subsidiary.

Option 03

Liaison Office

USD 2,500professional fee, turn-key

The lightest footprint. A liaison office may do market research, sourcing, quality control and liaison work for the head office, but it may not sell. It receives a tax identification number rather than a business registration certificate.

  • Non-sales activities only — no revenue in Korea
  • No capital requirement
  • Tax ID issued by the district tax office
  • The usual first step before committing to a branch or a subsidiary

Fits when: You are testing the market or supporting existing Korean suppliers.

Side by side

The differences thatactually cost money.

FDI companyBranch officeLiaison office
Legal statusKorean companyForeign entityForeign entity
Separate from head officeYes — its own legal personNo — one legal entity with the head officeNo — one legal entity with the head office
Capital required to registerKRW 100m for FDI statusNoneNone
May earn revenue in KoreaYesYesNo — non-sales activity only
D-8 investor visa routeYes, with KRW 100m+ investedNoNo
Tax registration issuedBusiness registration certificateBusiness registration certificateTax identification number
Professional feeUSD 3,000USD 3,000USD 2,500

Registration tax is charged on capital, so an FDI company carries a government cost that a branch or liaison office does not. Where the registered address sits changes that number too. We set both out in the quote.

What turn-key means

One engagement.Three government counters.

Setting up in Korea is not one filing — it is a bank report, a court registration and a tax office registration, each with its own paperwork and its own way of failing. We run all three under a single engagement and a single point of contact, so you are not coordinating three intermediaries in a language you do not read.

  • Foreign investment report

    Filed with your designated foreign exchange bank, which is the gateway to everything that follows. For branch and liaison offices, the corresponding notification or permit.

  • Commercial registration

    Registration at the competent court, including the articles of incorporation, corporate seal and the registered particulars of the entity.

  • Business registration

    Application at the district tax office for the business registration certificate — or the tax identification number, for a liaison office.

  • Pre-filing groundwork

    Company name clearance, business scope drafting, shareholding structure, and the document set your home jurisdiction has to notarise or apostille.

  • Registered address

    A Korean business address if you do not have one yet, through our virtual office service, including mail handling.

  • Handover

    Corporate documents, seal, certificates and a written checklist of what your new entity now has to file, and when.

How it works

From first emailto a registered entity.

The sequence below is the standard route for a foreign-invested company. A branch or liaison office follows the same shape with a lighter filing at step three and no capital remittance.

  1. Step 1

    Scoping

    Tell us what you plan to do in Korea, who will own the entity and whether anyone needs a visa. We come back with the structure that fits — corporation, branch or liaison office — and a fixed professional fee.

  2. Step 2

    Documents

    We send a checklist specific to your case: shareholder and director identity documents, the notarisation or apostille your jurisdiction requires, proposed company names, business scope and capital.

  3. Step 3

    Foreign investment report

    We file the foreign investment report with the designated foreign exchange bank, or the equivalent notification for a branch or liaison office.

  4. Step 4

    Capital remittance

    You remit the investment amount into the account opened for it. This step does not apply to branch or liaison offices.

  5. Step 5

    Court registration

    Incorporation documents are executed and filed at the competent court. The registration tax and court charges fall due here and are billed at cost.

  6. Step 6

    Tax office

    We apply for the business registration certificate at the district tax office — or the tax identification number for a liaison office.

  7. Step 7

    Handover

    You receive the corporate certificates, the seal and a filing calendar. If you want us to keep the books, the accounting engagement starts here.

Timing depends on how fast your home jurisdiction notarises documents and on the bank’s review — the parts outside our control are the parts worth asking about early. We will give you a realistic estimate for your case in the scoping reply.

Why work with us

A law firm does this work.Not a forwarding agent.

Company formation in Korea is sold by a lot of people who cannot themselves file anything — they pass your documents to a judicial scrivener and mark up the invoice. The work here is done under the responsibility of a Korean attorney, which matters most on the cases that do not fit the template.

01

Handled by a Korean attorney

Hyunseo Lim, admitted in Korea, supervises every engagement. Questions about liability, shareholder agreements or a business scope that touches a licensed industry get a legal answer, not a shrug.

02

Fixed professional fee, quoted first

You get the professional fee in writing before the engagement starts. Government taxes and court charges are separate and disclosed as pass-through cost — we do not bury them in a single headline number.

03

Built for remote founders

Most clients never visit Korea during setup. Documents are executed in your home jurisdiction under notarisation or apostille, and we work in English by email and WhatsApp.

04

Someone to call afterwards

Bookkeeping, VAT, payroll and annual corporate tax filing run through our affiliated accounting firm, and legal questions come back to the same attorney who set the entity up.

Questions we get every week

Answered here,not after you pay.

Do I have to come to Korea to set up the company?

In most cases, no. The documents that need your signature are executed where you are and then notarised or apostilled for use in Korea. Clients who never visit during setup are the norm, not the exception. A few situations — certain bank account openings, some licensed businesses — do call for a visit, and we will tell you up front if yours is one of them.

How much capital do I need?

For the entity to be treated as a foreign-invested company — the status that opens up the D-8 investor visa and the incentive regime — the foreign investment must be at least KRW 100 million, roughly USD 80,000. If you do not need that status, a Korean corporation can be set up with less. A branch or liaison office needs no registration capital at all.

Corporation, branch or liaison office — which one?

Short version: a corporation if you want a Korean company of your own, local hiring or a visa; a branch if you want to earn revenue in Korea without creating a separate entity and are comfortable with the head office carrying the liability; a liaison office if you are researching the market and will not sell. The choice also has tax consequences, which is the part worth a conversation rather than a web page.

What is not included in the professional fee?

Korean government taxes and court charges. The main one is registration tax, which is levied at three times the base rate inside the Seoul over-concentration control zone — Gangnam included — and works out at roughly 1.44% of capital with the education surtax. A statutory minimum of about KRW 450,000–500,000 applies even to small capital. Notarisation, apostille, translation and courier in your own country are also at cost.

Can you give the company a Korean address?

Yes. A virtual office runs USD 100–200 a month for a standard address, or USD 300–400 for a prime Gangnam address that comes with support if the tax office inspects the premises. Where the address sits also affects registration tax, so it is worth deciding before, not after, incorporation.

Who keeps the books once the company exists?

We do, through our affiliated accounting firm — monthly bookkeeping and VAT from USD 300 a month, annual corporate tax filing from USD 2,000, payroll from USD 500 a month. You can also take the certificates and go elsewhere; the handover pack is written so that a third-party accountant can pick it up.

Can you help with a visa?

Setting up an FDI company with at least KRW 100 million of foreign investment is what makes the D-8 investor visa possible, and we structure the incorporation with that in mind where it is part of your plan. The immigration filing itself is a separate matter and we will scope it separately rather than implying it comes bundled.

How do I reach you?

Email info@koreabizsetup.com, or WhatsApp +82-10-5960-5924 — the overseas direct line and the WhatsApp number are the same. We do not operate a WeChat channel.

Start here

Tell us what you wantto do in Korea.

A few lines are enough. We reply with the structure that fits, a fixed professional fee, an estimate of the government charges, and the document list for your jurisdiction. No charge for the scoping reply.

info@koreabizsetup.comWhatsApp +82-10-5960-5924+82-2-6080-5924Mon–Fri 09:00–18:00 KST · we reply within one Korean business day