After a payment order objection, pay the stamp shortfall or face dismissal

A payment order (지급명령) is a court order to pay a money claim, issued through Korea's demand procedure (독촉절차). This guide is for creditors, including foreign companies and individuals, whose debtor has filed an objection (이의신청) to the order. Once the debtor objects within 2 weeks of service, your next step is not a new complaint: the court sends a stamp correction order (인지 보정명령), and if you do not pay the stamp difference in time, your payment order application is dismissed.

What the objection changes

If the debtor files an objection within 2 weeks from the day the payment order was served, the order loses its effect to the extent of the objection (Civil Procedure Act (민사소송법), Article 470(1)). Under Article 472(2), a lawful objection means a lawsuit is deemed filed, for the value of the claim objected to, at the time you applied for the payment order. The filing date goes back to your application date, not the objection date.

• The objection period is 2 weeks from service of the payment order (Article 470(1)).
• This 2-week period is a peremptory period (불변기간) (Article 470(2)).
• If the debtor missed the period for reasons it was not responsible for, it can file a late objection (추후보완) within 2 weeks after those reasons end (Article 173(1)).
• If the objection is unlawful, the court dismisses it by decision, and that decision can be challenged by immediate appeal (즉시항고) (Article 471).
• If there is no objection, the objection is withdrawn, or a dismissal decision becomes final, the payment order has the same effect as a final judgment (Article 474).

An objection can also cover only part of the claim. The Act says the order loses effect "to that extent", and only "the value of the claim objected to" moves into a lawsuit. So when you receive the objection, first check which amount the debtor disputes.

The court sends a stamp correction order first

Under Article 473(1), the court that issued the payment order must set a reasonable period and order the creditor to make up the stamp duty. The amount is the stamp duty (인지) you would have attached to a complaint (소장), minus the stamp duty you attached to the payment order application. Article 7(3) of the Act on Stamps for Civil Litigation, etc. (민사소송 등 인지법) states the same as the creditor's duty.

The stamp for a payment order application is 1/10 of the complaint stamp (Article 7(2) of the same Act). After an objection, you are in effect paying the remaining 9/10. The complaint stamp is calculated with the four brackets in Article 2(1). The table shows examples by claim amount.

These figures are worked examples for an objection to the whole claim. The three brackets for claims under ₩1 billion are:

• under ₩10 million: 50/10,000 of the claim value;
• ₩10 million to under ₩100 million: 45/10,000 of the value plus ₩5,000;
• ₩100 million to under ₩1 billion: 40/10,000 of the value plus ₩55,000.

If the result is under ₩1,000, the stamp is ₩1,000. If it is ₩1,000 or more, amounts under ₩100 are dropped (Article 2(2)). Small claims (소액사건) are cases with a claim value of ₩30 million or less (Small Claims Adjudication Rules (소액사건심판규칙), Article 1-2). Amounts in between go to a single judge (단독판사), as the table shows. Claims over ₩500 million go to a panel of judges (합의부) at first instance as a rule, with exceptions such as claims on checks or promissory notes and loan claims by financial institutions (Rules on the Subject-Matter Jurisdiction of Civil and Family Cases (민사 및 가사소송의 사물관할에 관한 규칙), Article 2).

If you miss the correction period

Article 473(2) is short. If the creditor does not make up the stamp duty within the period, the court must dismiss (각하) the payment order application by decision, and that decision can be challenged by immediate appeal. Once the application is dismissed, you can no longer rely on the lawsuit being treated as filed on your application date. If you do pay, a court official such as the court clerk (법원사무관) promptly sends the case record to the competent court (Article 473(3)). The costs of the demand procedure become part of the litigation costs (Article 473(4)).

Follow the date and amount on the court's order

The law only says "a reasonable period" for the correction. Treat the date written on the correction order as your actual deadline. If the amount on the order differs from your own calculation with the brackets above, ask the court division in charge how it was calculated.

Related guides: provisional attachment, security and the order to sue and contracts without a seal: validity and proof.

Checklist

1. Get a copy of the objection and check its filing date.
2. Compare it with the service date to see whether it came within 2 weeks.
3. If it came late, watch whether the court dismisses it as unlawful.
4. Work out, by amount, whether the debtor disputes all or part of the claim.
5. Check separately whether the undisputed amount has become final.
6. Put the correction period from the stamp correction order in your calendar.
7. Recalculate the amount on the order with the bracket formulas above.
8. Confirm the stamp you paid for the payment order application from your receipt.
9. Pay the difference and submit the correction within the period.
10. Check whether a request to pay additional service fees (송달료) came with the order.
11. Check whether the case goes to small claims, a single judge or a panel.
12. Use the new case number in all later filings.
13. Sort the debtor's arguments in the objection by issue.
14. Gather your evidence again: contracts, tax invoices, deposit records.
15. Check that the grounds of claim in your application match the evidence.
16. If you obtained a provisional attachment (가압류), link the main case number to the attachment records.
17. If you may not meet the correction period, decide within the period whether to ask the court for an extension.
18. If you receive a dismissal decision, check the immediate appeal deadline first.