Is electronic tax invoicing mandatory?

Yes for all corporations and individual business owners above the NTS revenue threshold. E-tax invoices must be transmitted through the e-Sero system by the 10th of the following month.

What happens if I miss the transmission deadline?

A penalty of 1% of the supply value applies for late transmission. Not issuing an e-tax invoice at all incurs a 2% penalty. Timely submission through NTS-compatible software prevents these costs.

Can I add a company seal to invoices?

Yes. Upload your 직인 (company seal) and it appears on every invoice. While not legally required for tax purposes, Korean business convention strongly expects it.

What buyer details are required on a Korean tax invoice?

You need the counterparty’s legal name, business registration number, address, and supply specifics that match their ERP master data. Line items should show supply value and 10% VAT separately unless a statutory format combines them, and quantities or periods should mirror the buyer’s purchase order. Mismatched registration numbers or addresses are a frequent cause of buyer rejection in HomETax, so validate details before you issue the document.

How do I invoice a foreign client from Korea?

Exports of goods and certain services may be zero-rated or out of scope depending on place-of-supply rules. Issue documentation in English or bilingual form, keep export evidence, and coordinate with your tax agent on whether an e-tax invoice, zero-rate invoice, or alternative document is required. Always record FX in KRW for your ledgers.

Can I split one contract across multiple e-tax invoices?

Yes when each shipment or service milestone is a distinct supply event with its own supply date and value. Reference the master agreement in the memo field, keep numbering consecutive within your series, and align each line with the buyer’s goods receipt or milestone sign-off. Avoid duplicate document numbers because Korean buyers map each 전자세금계산서 to a single payable line in their ERP.

What payment reference should I show for 계좌이체?

Publish your business banking coordinates and ask buyers to include your invoice or document number in the transfer memo field exactly as printed. Korean corporate treasury systems rely on that narration for automatic cash-application and month-end close. For large chaebol or conglomerate suppliers, follow their vendor portal field lengths and reference formats even when they differ slightly from your default invoice template.

How does Billed relate to HomETax transmission?

Billed helps you produce professional invoices, payment links, and accounts-receivable history your team can audit. Actual submission to the NTS electronic tax invoice network typically requires certified accounting software, a certified ASP, or your ERP’s tax module. Export structured line data from Billed to reduce retyping and transcription errors when your compliance stack formats and transmits the statutory e-tax invoice.

Invoicing Software for South Korea

Issue professional won-denominated bills while respecting Korea’s VAT and electronic tax invoice expectations.

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South Korean VAT (부가가치세) is charged at 10% on most domestic supplies. Corporations and many individual businesses must issue and transmit electronic tax invoices (전자세금계산서) through the National Tax Service (NTS) HomETax / e-Tax system (often called e-Sero in vendor language). Each document needs both parties' ten-digit business registration numbers (사업자등록번호), supply value, tax amount, and timing that matches your VAT return. Late issuance or late transmission can trigger penalties—commonly cited guidance points to up to 1% of supply value for late transmission and up to 2% where issuance itself is deficient—so calendar the tenth-day-of-following-month deadline for many monthly filers.

Domestic B2B buyers expect document numbers that align with their ERP and 마감 (month-end close) cutoffs; sending bills one or two business days before close reduces rework. Bank transfer (계좌이체) remains standard—list 은행명, 계좌번호, and 예금주 exactly as registered. Cards and apps such as Kakao Pay or Naver Pay appear more in B2C or smaller trades; reference those channels in notes when relevant.

English-language PDFs help foreign clients, but Korean buyers often still want Korean descriptions, amounts in KRW without unnecessary rounding drift, and a company seal image (직인) for internal approval. Keep issued, modified, and cancelled e-tax records for five years and reconcile supply values to your semi-annual VAT return. Practical tip: batch-issue recurring SaaS or retainer bills early in the month so your team can fix rejections before the transmission window tightens.

Foreign subsidiaries and Korean branches sometimes need English descriptions for group reporting while keeping Korean statutory wording—maintain both in memo or attachment naming conventions. Stock and service bundles should list unit prices transparently; Korean buyers reconcile each line to purchase orders and customs entries where goods are involved.

Compliance & invoicing expectations in South Korea

Local rules change over time; use these themes as a checklist and confirm details with a qualified adviser for your situation.

Tax Compliance

Calculate 10% VAT on taxable supplies. Generate electronic tax invoices (전자세금계산서) for NTS transmission. Include both parties' 10-digit business registration numbers.

Currency & Payments

Invoice in KRW with bank account details for 계좌이체 (bank transfer). Support card payment references and Kakao Pay / Naver Pay for modern payment options.

E-Invoicing Rules

Electronic tax invoices through NTS e-Sero are mandatory for all corporations and individual businesses above revenue thresholds. Transmission deadline is the 10th of the following month.

Record Keeping

Retain tax invoice records for five years per NTS requirements. NTS cross-references e-tax invoices with VAT returns automatically.

Practical invoicing tools for businesses billing from or into South Korea.

How Billed supports South Korea invoicing

NTS-compliant e-tax invoices

Generate electronic tax invoices with both parties' business registration numbers, supply details, and 10% VAT breakdown. Format compatible with NTS e-Sero transmission requirements.

How to choose invoicing software for South Korea

Use this checklist when evaluating any invoicing tool for South Korea-based businesses.

Local tax support

Can it handle South Korea-specific tax rules (rates, exemptions, filing formats)?

Currency & language

Does it support the local currency and languages used in South Korea?

Compliance ready

Does it generate invoices that meet local legal requirements for tax credits and audits?

Payment integrations

Does it connect with payment methods popular in South Korea?

Scalability

Can it grow with your business — recurring billing, multi-client, team access?

Affordability

Does it offer a free tier or trial so you can evaluate before committing?

Feature	Billed	Generic tools
South Korea tax lines	Configurable	Varies
Local currency	Yes	Usually
Free plan	Yes	Sometimes
Recurring invoices	Included	Paid plans
Payment tracking	Built-in	Limited

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Quick answer:Invoicing Software for South Korea: Issue professional won-denominated bills while respecting Korea’s VAT and electronic tax invoice expectations.

At a glance

Requirement	What it means
Tax Compliance	Calculate 10% VAT on taxable supplies. Generate electronic tax invoices (전자세금계산서) for NTS transmission. Include both parties' 10-digit busin
Currency & Payments	Invoice in KRW with bank account details for 계좌이체 (bank transfer). Support card payment references and Kakao Pay / Naver Pay for modern paym
E-Invoicing Rules	Electronic tax invoices through NTS e-Sero are mandatory for all corporations and individual businesses above revenue thresholds. Transmissi
Record Keeping	Retain tax invoice records for five years per NTS requirements. NTS cross-references e-tax invoices with VAT returns automatically.

How we verified these requirements. Invoice-field and tax rules for South Korea come from the local tax authority's published SMB guidance. Where local practice differs from the written rules, we note it — enforcement norms vary from the printed regulation in several jurisdictions. For each comparison or claim, we cross-referenced at least one primary source (the vendor's pricing page, an official government dataset, or a published industry report) and noted where the source disagrees with widely-cited secondary numbers. Where source figures change frequently (tax rates, vendor pricing tiers, regulatory thresholds), we flag the data point so it can be re-verified at the start of each filing or fiscal period.

When this isn't for you

If you operate cross-border with complex permanent-establishment or VAT-registration requirements, this guide is not enough. Consult a local tax advisor or accountant licensed in South Korea. The information here is general and not legal or tax advice. Operationally, the structure here breaks down once you cross the threshold of having a dedicated finance/billing team, multi-entity consolidation needs, or a regulated payer environment that mandates specific claim or billing formats. In those cases, treat this as background context and follow your platform's or payer's required workflow rather than a generic best-practice template. For teams under 20 people doing direct-to-client billing, this remains the right starting point — the rubric breaks at the enterprise/ERP boundary, not at small-team scale.