Payroll deductions in Korea: the four insurances and tax

A Korean payslip takes six things out of your pay every month: four social insurance premiums and two taxes. On a salary of ₩40,000,000 a year, that is ₩397,520 out of ₩3,333,333 a month, leaving ₩2,935,813 under the rules as of October 2026.

The six lines on the payslip

The amounts in the last column are for the ₩40,000,000 example, with one dependent and a ₩200,000 tax-free meal allowance.

Swipe the table sideways.

Deduction	Employee rate	Charged on	Example
National Pension 국민연금	4.75%	income used for the pension, ₩410,000 to ₩6,590,000 a month	₩148,810
National Health Insurance 건강보험	3.595%	taxable monthly pay	₩112,640
Long-term Care Insurance 장기요양보험	0.9448% ÷ 7.19%	the health insurance premium	₩14,800
Employment Insurance 고용보험	0.9%	taxable monthly pay	₩28,190
Income tax (monthly withholding) 소득세	table lookup	taxable monthly pay and number of dependents	₩84,620
Local income tax 지방소득세	10%	the income tax	₩8,460

The Korean names are the ones printed on a payslip, so you can match the lines one by one.

What “taxable monthly pay” means

Start from your gross monthly pay, which is the annual salary divided by 12, and take out non-taxable pay. The usual non-taxable item is a meal allowance: up to ₩200,000 a month is tax-free for workers who are not given meals by the employer (Income Tax Act, Article 12, subparagraph 3). The insurance premiums are charged on pay without non-taxable earned income as well (Enforcement Decree of the National Pension Act, Article 3, Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act, Article 33).

₩40,000,000 ÷ 12 = ₩3,333,333 gross
₩3,333,333 − ₩200,000 = ₩3,133,333 taxable

The four insurances

National Pension. 4.75% in 2026, rising to 5.0% in 2027 under the National Pension Act. It is charged on an income figure that drops anything under ₩1,000 and is kept between ₩410,000 and ₩6,590,000 a month, so the premium stops growing above that ceiling.
National Health Insurance. 3.595%, the employee half of the 7.19% rate. The monthly premium has a floor of ₩10,080 and a ceiling of ₩4,591,740 for the employee share.
Long-term Care Insurance. Not a share of pay but of the health premium: health premium × 0.9448% ÷ 7.19%.
Employment Insurance. 0.9%, with no ceiling in the law we read. It is not collected from people hired after turning 65.

Employers pay their own share on top of each of these. Only the employee share appears as a deduction.

The two taxes

Income tax is withheld every month from a table in the Enforcement Decree of the Income Tax Act, the simplified withholding table (근로소득 간이세액표). You find your pay bracket and your number of dependents, counting yourself and your spouse as one each. The table in force since 1 March 2026 has 647 rows. For the example, taxable pay of ₩3,133,333 with one dependent gives ₩84,620.

Dependents matter. At ₩4,000,000 of taxable monthly pay the table gives ₩195,960 for one dependent, ₩167,950 for two and ₩91,670 for four. Children aged 8 to 20 reduce it further: ₩20,830 for one child and ₩45,830 for two.

You may ask your employer to withhold 80% or 120% of the table amount instead (Enforcement Decree of the Income Tax Act, Article 194). The monthly amount is an advance. The tax for the whole year is worked out again in the year-end tax settlement, which this site does not calculate.

Local income tax is 10% of the income tax, collected together with it.

This calculator uses the standard monthly withholding table that applies to residents.

Why your payslip can differ from a calculator

The National Pension Service sets the income figure for the pension once a year, so it may not match this month’s pay.
Your employer may treat different items as non-taxable.
The number of dependents on file with your employer may differ from what you typed.
Rounding. This site rounds each premium and tax down to ₩10, following the rounding rule of the Management of the National Funds Act, Article 47. An employer’s figures can differ by a few tens of won.

What changes in 2027

The National Pension rate becomes 5.0%, which costs the ₩40,000,000 example ₩7,840 a month. The health insurance rate was approved to stay at 7.19%. The long-term care rate for 2027 had not been decided when we checked on 10 October 2026.

Sources

Opened and checked on 10 October 2026. The pages are in Korean.

How payroll deductions work in Korea: the four insurances and withholding tax