Korea Severance Pay Calculator
Severance pay before tax, from your dates and the wages of your last three months.
The leaving date is the day after your last working day.
Bonus, unused-leave pay, ordinary wage
Severance pay, before taxExample · Ministry of Employment and Labor sample case
₩7,868,434
Average daily wage ₩88,641.31 × 30 days × 1,080 days of service ÷ 365
- A. Wages in those three months₩7,080,000
- B. Bonus share, ₩4,000,000 a year × 3/12₩1,000,000
- C. Unused-leave pay share, ₩300,000 × 3/12₩75,000
Before tax. Retirement income tax is not calculated, and company rules can change the actual amount. What you enter never leaves this device. Rules and sources
What the law says
- Covered
- one year of service or more, and 15 hours a week or more on a four-week average
- Amount
- at least 30 days of average wages per year of service
- Deadline
- within 14 days of leaving
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Rules and sources
Checked against the laws and agency notices below on 10 October 2026. The pages are in Korean. The full table is on the about page.
| Item | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Severance pay 퇴직금 | at least 30 days of average wages for each year of continuous service | Act on the Guarantee of Employees’ Retirement Benefits, Article 8 Ministry of Employment and Labor: severance pay calculator |
| Who is covered | one year of service or more, and 15 contractual hours a week or more on a four-week average | Act on the Guarantee of Employees’ Retirement Benefits, Article 4 |
| Average wage 평균임금 | wages paid in the three months before leaving ÷ the calendar days in that period; the ordinary wage is used if it is higher | Labor Standards Act, Article 2 |
| Payment deadline | within 14 days of leaving, unless both sides agree to extend | Act on the Guarantee of Employees’ Retirement Benefits, Article 9 |
How it is calculated
This follows the formula on the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s calculator: severance pay = average daily wage × 30 days × (days of service ÷ 365). The average daily wage is (A + B + C) ÷ the number of days in the last three months.
- A is the wages paid in the last three months, B is 3/12 of the year’s bonus, C is 3/12 of the year’s unused-leave pay.
- The leaving date is the day after your last working day. Days of service run from the start date to the last working day.
- If your ordinary daily wage is higher than the average daily wage, the ordinary wage is used.
- The result is before tax. Retirement income tax is not calculated.
This calculator’s own conventions
- The last three months start on the same calendar day three months earlier. If that day does not exist, they start on the last day of that month (leaving on 31 May 2026 gives 92 days from 28 February 2026). An employer or labor office may count one day differently.
- The average daily wage is rounded up at the second decimal, which reproduces the ministry’s sample figure of ₩88,641.31. The final amount drops won fractions.
It does not decide whether you qualify
The Act excludes workers with less than one year of continuous service and workers whose contractual hours average under 15 a week over four weeks (Act on the Guarantee of Employees’ Retirement Benefits, Article 4). For your own case, ask your employer or the ministry’s 1350 counselling line.
The example is the ministry’s sample case
The figures shown at first are the sample case on the Ministry of Employment and Labor: severance pay calculator: started 2 October 2014, left 16 September 2017, 1,080 days of service, base pay ₩2,000,000 and other allowances ₩360,000 a month, a yearly bonus of ₩4,000,000, and unused-leave pay of ₩60,000 × 5 days.
A ₩7,080,000 + B ₩1,000,000 + C ₩75,000 = ₩8,155,000
₩8,155,000 ÷ 92 days = average daily wage ₩88,641.31
₩88,641.31 × 30 days × 1,080 days ÷ 365 = ₩7,868,434
The ministry’s page states the average daily wage of ₩88,641.31 and stops there. The ₩7,868,434 is what this calculator returns for the same inputs.
More calculators
Related guides
- Severance pay in Korea: who qualifies and how it is calculatedKorean severance pay is 30 days of average wages per year of service, for workers with at least one year and 15 hours a week. The formula, with the labor ministry’s sample case worked through.
- How payroll deductions work in Korea: the four insurances and withholding taxWhat comes out of a Korean payslip each month: National Pension 4.75%, health insurance 3.595%, long-term care, employment insurance 0.9% and withheld income tax, with a worked example.
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