South Korea Salary After Tax Calculator

Key Features and Benefits

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  Progressive Tax Bracket Breakdown — See exactly how much of your income falls into each tax bracket and the tax owed at each level. This eliminates the common misconception that earning more pushes all your income into a higher bracket. You will see that a raise from 49 million to 52 million won only exposes the incremental 3 million won to the higher rate — not your entire salary. The bracket visualization makes the progressive system intuitive.
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  4대보험 Itemization — Each social insurance deduction — national pension, health insurance, long-term care insurance, and employment insurance — is displayed as a separate line item with the applicable rate and the won amount. This granularity helps you verify your payslip against the official rates and identify any discrepancies with your employer's calculations.
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  Annual and Monthly Views — Toggle between annual and monthly perspectives. Enter your annual gross salary and see the monthly take-home pay, or enter your monthly gross and see the annual totals. Korean employers often describe compensation as an annual figure divided by 12 or 13 months, and switching between views clarifies what that number actually means after deductions.
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  Dependent and Deduction Inputs — Enter the number of dependents, applicable tax credits, and standard deductions to refine your estimate. Korean tax law provides personal exemptions (인적공제) of 1.5 million won per dependent, along with additional deductions for children under certain ages, elderly dependents over 70, and disabled family members. These inputs significantly affect taxable income and therefore your final take-home pay.
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  Year-End Settlement Preview — Korean salaried workers go through 연말정산 (year-end tax settlement) each January, where the employer reconciles estimated tax withholdings against actual tax liability. The calculator provides a preliminary estimate of whether you are likely to receive a refund or owe additional tax based on your deduction inputs. This preview helps you plan ahead rather than being surprised by the result.
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  Marginal vs Effective Tax Rate Display — Your marginal rate is the tax rate on the last won you earned. Your effective rate is the total tax you pay divided by your total income. These two numbers are always different under a progressive system, and the gap can be large. Someone in the 24 percent marginal bracket might have an effective rate of only 8 to 12 percent. The calculator displays both so you understand the true weight of taxation on your income.

How to Calculate Your Take-Home Pay

1. 1

   Enter Your Gross Annual Salary

   Start with the total compensation figure from your employment contract. In Korea, this typically includes base salary, fixed allowances, and sometimes a guaranteed bonus. Variable bonuses, overtime pay, and stock options are harder to predict and should be entered separately if the calculator provides fields for them. If your contract states a monthly salary, multiply by the number of payment periods — 12 for standard monthly pay, 13 if your company pays a 13th-month bonus. Use the pre-deduction figure. This is the starting point from which everything else is subtracted.

2. 2

   Specify Your Dependents and Filing Status

   Korean income tax provides a basic personal exemption (기본공제) of 1.5 million won per person for yourself, your spouse (if applicable), and each qualifying dependent. Children under 20, parents over 60 living in your household, and siblings under 20 or over 60 may qualify. Additional deductions apply for dependents who are over 70 (경로우대공제, 1 million won extra) or disabled (장애인공제, 2 million won extra). Enter each dependent accurately — these exemptions reduce your taxable income directly, and missing one means overpaying tax until the year-end settlement corrects it.

3. 3

   Review Income Tax Calculation

   The calculator subtracts your personal exemptions and standard deductions from gross income to arrive at taxable income (과세표준). It then applies the 2024 progressive tax brackets: 6 percent up to 14 million won, 15 percent from 14 million to 50 million won, 24 percent from 50 million to 88 million won, 35 percent from 88 million to 150 million won, 38 percent from 150 million to 300 million won, 40 percent from 300 million to 500 million won, 42 percent from 500 million to 1 billion won, and 45 percent above 10 billion won. Each bracket has a cumulative tax amount plus a marginal rate applied to the excess. The calculator handles this layered computation and shows you the total income tax owed.

4. 4

   Add Local Income Tax

   Local income tax (지방소득세) in Korea is straightforward — it equals 10 percent of your national income tax. If your national income tax is 3 million won, your local income tax is 300,000 won. This surtax funds municipal governments and is withheld alongside your national income tax. The calculator adds it automatically, but it is important to recognize it as a separate line item because it effectively increases your income tax burden by 10 percent above the bracket rates.

5. 5

   Calculate 4대보험 Deductions

   National pension (국민연금) takes 4.5 percent of your monthly gross salary, capped at a monthly income ceiling of approximately 5.9 million won — meaning the maximum monthly pension contribution is about 265,500 won. National health insurance (국민건강보험) takes approximately 3.545 percent of monthly gross with no cap. Long-term care insurance (장기요양보험) is calculated as 12.81 percent of your health insurance premium — not your salary. Employment insurance (고용보험) takes 0.9 percent of your monthly gross. The calculator applies each rate to your income, respects the pension cap, and sums the four deductions into a single 4대보험 total alongside the individual amounts.

6. 6

   View Your Net Take-Home Pay

   The final figure is your gross salary minus income tax, local income tax, and all four social insurance deductions. This is the amount your employer deposits into your account each month. For a single worker earning 50 million won annually with no dependents, the monthly take-home is roughly 3.4 to 3.5 million won out of a monthly gross of approximately 4.17 million won. That means about 16 to 18 percent of gross pay goes to mandatory deductions. Compare this net figure against your monthly expenses and financial goals to determine whether your budget is sustainable.

Expert Tips for Maximizing Take-Home Pay

Related Tools

Your salary after tax is the number that actually matters for budgeting, saving, and planning your financial life. The Monthly Salary Calculator breaks down the same computation from a monthly perspective — useful when your employment contract quotes a monthly base rather than an annual total. The Severance Pay Calculator estimates what you would receive if you leave your current employer, giving you a clearer picture of your total compensation beyond monthly take-home pay. And the Pension Calculator projects the national pension benefits you are building through those monthly 4.5 percent contributions, turning a deduction that feels like a loss today into a projected income stream for retirement. Together, these tools map the full lifecycle of your earned income — from gross salary to monthly take-home to long-term retirement security.