If a supplier won't issue a tax invoice, the buyer can issue it

If a supplier in Korea takes your payment but never issues a VAT tax invoice (세금계산서), you can issue one yourself and still deduct the VAT. This guide is for foreign founders, managers and accounting staff of companies in Korea. The rule: apply to your tax office with Form No. 14-2 within one year of the end of the tax period, for transactions of ₩50,000 or more including VAT.

How a buyer-issued tax invoice works

Sometimes the supplier cannot be reached, has closed the business, or does not send an amended tax invoice (수정세금계산서) after a contract was canceled. You do not have to give up the input VAT (매입세액), the VAT you paid on the purchase. Article 34-2 of the Value-Added Tax Act (부가가치세법) lets the buyer issue the invoice instead.

You apply to your own district tax office (관할 세무서) for confirmation of the transaction, the supplier's tax office confirms it, and you issue a tax invoice dated on the transaction date. The VAT on that invoice is treated as deductible input tax (Article 34-2(2)).

Who can apply, and when the tax office refuses

You can apply when:

• the supplier is a business that must issue tax invoices (Enforcement Decree of the Value-Added Tax Act (부가가치세법 시행령), Article 71-2(1));
• the supplier did not issue the invoice when it was due (Act, Article 34-2(1));
• the supplier did not issue an amended tax invoice after going bankrupt or closing, or after the contract was canceled or changed;
• the supplier's whereabouts are unknown or contact is lost (Decree, Article 71-2(2), item 1, added in 2024);
• the Commissioner of the National Tax Service accepts that an unavoidable reason, such as suspension of business, makes receiving the invoice difficult (same paragraph, item 2);
• the price per transaction including VAT (공급대가) is ₩50,000 or more (Decree, Article 71-2(4)).

The tax office refuses confirmation (Decree, Article 71-2(6)) when:

• the application period (one year from the end of the tax period) has clearly passed;
• the application clearly shows the counterparty was not a registered business at the time;
• the counterparty was clearly suspended or closed at the time;
• you do not answer the tax office's request for correction within the set period.

The threshold includes VAT. It used to be ₩100,000 and is now ₩50,000, so do not drop deals in the ₩50,000 range because of older material.

Deadline: one year from the end of the tax period

The deadline is one year from the end of the tax period containing the time of supply, not from the transaction date (Decree, Article 71-2(3)). For a corporation that is a general VAT taxpayer:

Supplies from July to December 2025 are the most urgent: they will be refused after December 31, 2026. Review your missing tax invoices before the year-end closing. Some articles online still say six months; the current Enforcement Decree says one year.

Forms, evidence and processing times

Article 52-2 of the Enforcement Rule of the Value-Added Tax Act (부가가치세법 시행규칙) sets three forms:

Attach documents that objectively prove the transaction (Decree, Article 71-2(3)). The buyer, as applicant, must prove the transaction and its details (same article, paragraph 8). Typical documents:

• the contract or purchase order;
• the payment record (bank transfer confirmation);
• the quotation or transaction statement;
• delivery or inspection records;
• emails or messenger records with the supplier.

Deals paid in cash or agreed only orally are hard to prove. If you paid by bank transfer, that record is your strongest evidence.

The tax offices then follow these steps (Decree, Article 71-2(5), (7), (9) and (10)):

Two unavoidable reasons allow an extension (Enforcement Rule, Article 52-2(2)):

• the supplier asks for a delay because confirmation is difficult due to bankruptcy, illness, a long business trip or similar;
• a tax official visited two or more times but found the premises closed or the supplier absent.

Example: if you apply in October, the result is due by November 30 in principle. An extension adds up to 20 days.

After confirmation: issue, deliver, deduct

The confirmation notice shows the business registration numbers of the supplier and the buyer, the date of preparation, the supply value and the VAT amount (Decree, Article 71-2(9), item 1). Then:

1. Issue the buyer-issued tax invoice (Form No. 14-3), with the transaction date confirmed by the supplier's tax office as the date of preparation (paragraph 11).
2. Deliver it to the supplier. If both you and the supplier received the confirmation notice, it is treated as delivered (paragraph 12).
3. File the summary of buyer-issued tax invoices (Form No. 14-4) with your return (paragraph 13).

The deduction belongs to the tax period that contains the time of supply, not the period in which you file (paragraph 13). So the route depends on timing:

• If the return deadline for that period has not passed, submit the summary with the preliminary or final return.
• If that period's return is already filed, claim the deduction with a request for correction (경정청구) under Article 45-2(1) of the Framework Act on National Taxes (국세기본법).

Confirmation takes time, so most cases end with a request for correction. See also Non-deductible input VAT: eight cases.

Penalties for the supplier

The supplier stays liable. Article 60(2) of the Act imposes these penalties on it:

• issued after the due time but by the final return deadline: 1% of the supply value (item 1);
• not issued by the final return deadline: 2% (item 2);
• electronic tax invoice details transmitted late but by the final return deadline: 0.3% (item 3);
• not transmitted by the final return deadline: 0.5% (item 4).

Issuing or receiving tax invoices without a real transaction carries a penalty of 4% of the supply value (Article 60(3), items 1 and 2, amended in December 2025). Hence the demand for proof of a real transaction.

Checklist

• Under one year since the end of the supply's tax period.
• ₩50,000 or more per transaction, including VAT.
• Counterparty registered as a business, and not suspended or closed, at the time.
• Bank transfer record of the payment.
• Contract, purchase order or transaction statement (at least one).
• Record (email or text) of asking the supplier to issue the invoice.
• Whether that period's VAT return is already filed (if so, request a correction).