Guide
Korea take-home pay 2026 (연봉 실수령액): pension, health, employment insurance and income tax
A Korean job offer usually quotes an annual salary (연봉). What arrives each month, your take-home pay or 실수령액, is lower: four employee social insurance premiums and two income taxes come off first. This guide explains each deduction for 2026 using official rates, then works through an example. It’s general education, not tax advice. Figures are for 2026, checked on 2026-10-04.
To estimate your own figure, use the Korea take-home pay calculator.
What is deducted from a Korean salary?
| Deduction | 2026 rate | Employee share |
|---|---|---|
| National Pension (국민연금) | 9.5% of monthly income, within limits | 4.75% |
| Health insurance (건강보험) | 7.19% | 3.595% |
| Long-term care insurance (장기요양보험) | 0.9448% of income (13.14% of the health premium) | half |
| Employment insurance (고용보험) | 1.8% unemployment-benefit premium | 0.9% |
| Income tax (소득세) | from the withholding table (간이세액표) | — |
| Local income tax (지방소득세) | 10% of the income tax withheld | — |
National Pension rose from 9% to 9.5% in January 2026, the first step of the 2025 reform that takes it to 13% by 2033. It is charged on monthly income between a floor and a cap that reset each July: ₩400,000–₩6,370,000 for January–June 2026 and ₩410,000–₩6,590,000 for July–December 2026.
Industrial accident insurance (산재보험) is not on the list because the employer pays all of it. People often call payroll deductions “4대보험” (the four social insurances), but those four are National Pension, health, employment and industrial accident insurance; long-term care is collected with health insurance. The employee-paid items are the four in the table above.
Monthly take-home pay = monthly gross − National Pension − health insurance − long-term care insurance − employment insurance − income tax − local income tax
A tax-free meal allowance of up to ₩200,000 a month is excluded from the base for every item except the gross figure itself.
How is monthly income tax worked out?
Employers withhold income tax using the simplified withholding table (근로소득 간이세액표) in the Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree. The table gives a tax for each monthly pay band (excluding tax-free pay) and each number of family members you claim, counting yourself.
The table was amended on 27 February 2026 and applies from 1 March 2026. The amendment raised the child deduction for children aged 8 to 20: ₩20,830 for one child, ₩45,830 for two, and ₩33,330 more for each further child (previously ₩12,500 / ₩29,160 / ₩25,000). Local income tax is 10% of the tax after that deduction.
This is withholding, not your final tax. The year-end settlement (연말정산) the following February recalculates the year using your actual deductions, such as card spending, insurance, medical costs and pension savings, and settles the difference.
Worked example: ₩36 million a year, single
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly gross | 36,000,000 ÷ 12 | ₩3,000,000 |
| Taxable base | 3,000,000 − 200,000 meal allowance | ₩2,800,000 |
| National Pension | 2,800,000 × 4.75% | ₩133,000 |
| Health insurance | 2,800,000 × 7.19% × 50% | ₩100,660 |
| Long-term care insurance | 100,660 × 0.9448 ÷ 7.19, rounded down to ₩10 | ₩13,220 |
| Employment insurance | 2,800,000 × 0.9% | ₩25,200 |
| Income tax | table row ₩2,800,000–2,810,000, 1 person | ₩56,800 |
| Local income tax | 56,800 × 10% | ₩5,680 |
| Total deductions | ₩334,560 | |
| Take-home pay | 3,000,000 − 334,560 | ₩2,665,440 a month; ₩31,985,280 a year |
If this person had no other deductions, the year-end settlement would come out slightly below the tax withheld, giving a small refund of roughly ₩25,000 plus local tax. That’s an illustration, not a forecast.
Other salaries, from the same calculator logic (₩200,000 meal allowance):
| Case | Monthly deductions | Monthly take-home | Annual take-home |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₩60M, family of 4 (spouse and two children aged 8–20) | ₩628,640 | ₩4,371,360 | ₩52,456,320 |
| ₩100M, single, January–June | ₩1,791,960 | ₩6,541,373 | ₩78,433,776 |
| ₩100M, single, July–December | ₩1,802,410 | ₩6,530,923 | (as above) |
At ₩100 million, National Pension is at the cap, so the July limit change raises it from ₩302,570 to ₩313,020 a month. Small differences of a few won can arise from rounding conventions.
What does the calculator leave out?
These simplifications are disclosed on the calculator too:
- Tax is the monthly withholding at 100% of the table, not the final tax after the year-end settlement. Personal deductions are not modelled.
- Pay in 12 equal months; bonuses, overtime and severance pay (퇴직금) are excluded.
- Only the meal allowance is treated as tax-free, capped at ₩200,000 a month.
- The old child deduction used for January–February 2026 payslips isn’t modelled.
- In practice, the bases for pension and health insurance come from reported or previous-year income, so a mid-year raise shows up later.
- Not modelled: extra health premiums on other income, the Duru Nuri subsidy, the employment insurance exemption for people newly hired at 65 or over, the SME youth tax reduction, the flat rate for foreign workers, and daily-worker rules.
Related guides
- Japan take-home pay 2026: the same question for a Japanese salary.
- Currency conversion cost: relevant if you move won to or from another currency.
Sources
All checked 2026-10-04; rates for 2026.
- 국세청 (NTS, Korea’s tax agency), withholding on employment income (간이세액표); the 2026 amounts follow the Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree, Annex 2, amended 2026-02-27
- 국민연금공단 (National Pension Service), contribution rates and monthly income limits
- 국민건강보험공단 (NHIS), 2026 contribution rates
- 4대사회보험 정보연계센터, social insurance contribution calculator (2026)
- 소득세법 (Income Tax Act) §12 on the tax-free meal allowance, via law.go.kr
This guide is for general education only and isn’t tax advice. See our disclaimer.