Income tax
Earned-income tax applies the progressive scale to a tax base (after the earned-income and personal deductions), then subtracts tax credits to reach the decided tax; local income tax is added on top. This calculator computes on the year-end-settlement basis.
Tax by year-end settlement, not a raw bracket walk
Korean earned-income tax is not simply your salary run through a rate table. It is settled once a year, at the year-end settlement(연말정산), and this calculator reproduces that exact annual figure — then divides it by twelve for a monthly number. The chain runs: total pay, minus the earned-income deduction and the personal deductions, gives the taxable base (과세표준); the progressive scale on that base gives the computed tax; then tax credits are subtracted to reach the decided tax (결정세액). Local income tax is added on top. The scale below applies for the period 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026.
The progressive scale on the taxable base
There are 8 bands, from 6% to 45%. Korea uses the quick-deduction (누진공제) form of a progressive scale: rather than slicing income band by band, you multiply the whole taxable base by its top marginal rate and subtract a single quick-deduction figure. The result is identical, in one line.
| Taxable base (과세표준) | Rate | Quick-deduction (누진공제) |
|---|---|---|
| up to ₩14,000,000 | 6% | ₩0 |
| ₩14,000,000 – ₩50,000,000 | 15% | ₩1,260,000 |
| ₩50,000,000 – ₩88,000,000 | 24% | ₩5,760,000 |
| ₩88,000,000 – ₩150,000,000 | 35% | ₩15,440,000 |
| ₩150,000,000 – ₩300,000,000 | 38% | ₩19,940,000 |
| ₩300,000,000 – ₩500,000,000 | 40% | ₩25,940,000 |
| ₩500,000,000 – ₩1,000,000,000 | 42% | ₩35,940,000 |
| over ₩1,000,000,000 | 45% | ₩65,940,000 |
Computed tax = taxable base × rate − quick-deduction (산출세액 = 과세표준 × 세율 − 누진공제).
Getting to the taxable base
Two things shrink your income before the scale touches it. The earned-income deduction (근로소득공제, §47) is a graduated allowance on total pay — large at the bottom, tapering as pay rises, capped at ₩20,000,000. Then the basic personal deduction (기본공제, §50) removes ₩1,500,000 a year for each qualifying person — yourself, a spouse, and each dependant. On top of those, standard employees also deduct their pension-premium and special insurance contributions (연금보험료공제 · 특별소득공제): the National Pension, health, long-term-care and employment premiums you already paid come out of income too. What is left is the taxable base.
Tax credits: the earned-income and child credits
After the scale gives a computed tax, two credits reduce it directly. The earned-income tax credit (근로소득세액공제, §59) returns 55% of the computed tax up to ₩1,300,000, and 30% of anything above that — then caps the credit by a ceiling that falls as pay rises. The child tax credit (자녀세액공제, §59-2) applies to children aged 8 and over: ₩250,000 a year for one child, ₩550,000 for two, plus ₩400,000 for each additional child. Subtract both from the computed tax and you have the decided tax (결정세액).
Local income tax
Finally, the individual local income tax (개인지방소득세) adds 10% of the national decided tax. It is uniform across the whole country — there is no regional variation to pick from, so wherever you live the local surcharge is the same 10%.
Why the monthly number is an estimate
Because this is the settlement figure ÷ 12, it is a clean, recomputable annual result — but not the same as what your employer withholds each month. Monthly withholding follows the National Tax Service’s simplified table (간이세액표), a lookup by pay and number of dependants, and any difference is reconciled at the year-end settlement. Expect a small gap between this figure and a 간이세액표-based tool.
Every rate and amount here is transcribed from a named primary source and is the one in force for 2026; a very recent change may not have reached this page yet, and none has been through this site’s own review and sign-off — for the amount that binds you, check with your employer or the National Tax Service.
The content of this page is still being expanded.