The moving boxes and keys are a conceptual scene, not a photograph of a real home, transaction, or qualifying tax case. Created with Grok.

Not every household that briefly owns two homes now has a universal two-year sale deadline. Korea promulgated amendments to the Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree (Presidential Decree No. 36737) and the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Act Enforcement Decree (No. 36739) on September 30, 2026; both took effect on October 1. The new two-year category focuses on a household whose previous home is in a designated adjustment area (조정대상지역) when it acquires another home in such an area. Both decrees retain a three-year category for cases outside the specified first category. The designation conditions must be checked at the legally specified acquisition time, not guessed from today's map.

Capital gains tax: a period to transfer the old home

Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree Article 155(1) says that, for its qualifying designated-area category, the previous home must be transferred within two years of acquiring the new home for the temporary two-home treatment under Article 154(1). Other cases under item 2 retain three years. The existing general condition that the new home be acquired at least one year after the old one remains, subject to statutory exceptions. Meeting this time condition alone does not establish an individual's capital-gains exemption.

The amendment's Supplementary Provision Article 2(1) applies its new item 1 where the relevant new home was acquired on or after August 4, 2026, and the old home is transferred on or after October 1, 2026, subject to the grandfathering in Article 2(2). Both transaction dates matter.

AI-generated conceptual scene of a hand with keys beside blank paper; not an actual contract or proof of deposit.

Created with Grok. The paper is blank, not a contract or tax record.

Comprehensive real estate tax: a June 1 assessment snapshot

Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Act Enforcement Decree Article 4-2(1) uses different language. For its two-year category, it defines the scope of a single-home taxpayer when two years have not elapsed since acquiring the new home as of the tax assessment date (과세기준일 현재). Item 2 uses three years for other cases. Do not rewrite this provision as an across-the-board instruction to sell within two years, or import the capital-gains wording to decide a boundary date.

Supplementary Provision Article 2(1) applies the new comprehensive-real-estate-tax item to qualifying new-home acquisitions from August 4, 2026, except the grandfathered cases. Article 3 of the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Act cross-refers to Local Tax Act Article 114, which sets the recurring assessment date at June 1. The Ministry of Economy and Finance's September 29 cabinet briefing PDF, page 1, identifies liabilities arising on June 1, 2027 as the first application. That calendar date is in the ministry explanation and follows the statutory annual assessment date; it is not expressly written in the amendment's supplementary provision.

AI-generated conceptual apartment scene; not an actual address or identified adjustment area.

Created with Grok. This is not a photograph of an identified address or regulated area.

Earlier acquisitions and signed contracts are separate checks

The supplementary provisions of both decrees preserve the previous rule if, by August 3, 2026, the household had acquired the relevant new home (including a right to acquire one), or had signed a purchase contract for it and paid the deposit, with documentary proof of the latter. A contract alone is not the stated contract-and-deposit condition. An acquisition after August 3 does not by itself rule out a documented earlier contract and deposit.

There is also a distinct exception tied to designation of the area: the new item 1 excludes a documented new-home or acquisition-right purchase before the adjustment-area designation was announced, or a purchase contract signed and deposit paid before that announcement. The area's announcement date and August 3 are different legal checkpoints. The item's residual three-year category and the supplementary provision's preservation of the old rule have different legal bases; confirm the applicable one from the facts.

A practical document checklist

  1. Addresses and adjustment-area announcement dates for both homes, and each home's status when the new home was acquired.
  2. Acquisition dates for the old and new homes, any acquisition rights, and the actual transfer date of the old home.
  3. Signed contract and proof of deposit payment, especially if made by August 3 or before an area's designation announcement.
  4. Other conditions of the capital-gains single-home treatment; holdings and applicable application requirements at the June 1 comprehensive-tax assessment date.

These are rules for a potential tax treatment, not a personalized date by which you must sell or a promise of exemption. Confirm acquisition/transfer classification, household holdings, applicable area notices and supporting records with the tax office or a qualified Korean tax adviser. This article does not determine individual tax liability.

Naver summary: Life Mokcha’s Korean post.

About the Author

Life Mokcha's editorial team separates statutory transaction dates from tax assessment dates. We do not determine individual tax liability.

References