Korea's Basic Pension goes to anyone 65 or over whose recognised income is at or below the limit. What the leaflets never say is how much each thing you own or earn counts as. That sits in the statute and a ministry notice, and every item is counted differently.
1. The same 100m won can be nothing, 267,000 or 100m a month. A 100m flat in a metro area is under the allowance, so zero; 100m in the bank is 266,666 won; a 100m car is 100m won every month.
2. Only earnings get 1.16m won off, then 70 percent. A pension counts whole — 2m won of wages becomes 588,000 won, 2m of National Pension stays 2m.
3. The last step is 34,970 won; one won more is nothing. Inside the line there is a floor; past it, no entitlement at all.
4. Each spouse gets 80 percent of a single person. 279,760 won each, 559,520 won together — as worked out in the Basic Pension guide.
Enter household, area, income and property, and it shows what counts as how much on the way to recognised income, and the monthly pension.
It follows the statute and the 2026 notice. Recognised income = assessed income + property converted to income (Basic Pension Act art. 2(4)). In assessed income, only earnings get 1.16m won a month deducted and then count at 70% (Ministry notice 2026-156 art. 6, each spouse separately); public pensions and business or rental income count as they are. Property converts as [(general property − basic allowance) + (financial assets − 20m) − debt] × 4% ÷ 12 (Rule art. 4), with the allowance at 135m in metro areas, 85m in small cities and 72.5m in rural counties (notice art. 8). On top of that, a car worth 40m or more (under 10 years old) or a membership is added at its full value (Rule art. 4(1)4). The 2026 limits are 2,470,000 won for a single person and 3,952,000 for a couple, and the base pension is 349,700 won (notice arts. 2 and 3). Couples lose 20% each (Act art. 8(1)); where the gap to the limit is smaller, only the gap is paid, but never below 10% of the base (20% for couples) (Decree art. 11). Fractions of a won are dropped. The National Pension link, free-rent income from a child's home, the 40,000 won interest deduction, gifted or disposed property and the 50% cap on tenant-deposit debt are not included. An estimate — confirm on Bokjiro or with the NPS (1355).
The same 100m won: nothing, 267,000 or 100m
Property is converted to income under article 4(1) of the Enforcement Rule. Item 1 is general property less the basic allowance, item 2 financial assets less 20m won, item 3 debt, and the article says to take "items 1 and 2 added together, less the debt in item 3 … multiplied by the conversion rate and divided by 12, plus the amount in item 4". The rate, in paragraph 2, is 4 percent a year.
So 100m won in the bank is (100m − 20m won) × 4% ÷ 12 = 266,666 won. A 100m flat in a metro area sits under the 135m won allowance and counts as nothing (notice art. 8).
The catch is item 4. Item 4 is memberships and cars worth 40m won or more, under ten years old (notice art. 11), and the article adds this amount after the rate has been applied. No 4 percent, no division by 12 — the price is your monthly recognised income. A 40m won car alone makes recognised income 40m won, past the single-person limit of 2.47m won, so you are out with no other income at all.
| 100m won of … | How it is counted | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| a flat, metro area | under the 135m won allowance → 0 | 0 won |
| bank savings | (100m − 20m won) × 4% ÷ 12 | 266,666 won |
| a car, under 10 years | whole | 100m won |
| Metro area, nothing else owned or earned, fractions of a won dropped. A 300m flat is (300m − 135m won) × 4% ÷ 12 = 550,000 won; the same flat in a rural county, where the allowance is 72.5m won, is 758,333 won. | ||
The allowance has three tiers by area
Notice art. 8 sets it at 135m won in metro areas, 85m won in small cities and 72.5m won in rural counties. Districts of Seoul and the metropolitan cities plus the special-case cities are metro; cities within a province and Sejong are small cities; counties are rural. The same home can differ by up to 208,333 won a month (62.5m × 4% ÷ 12) purely on where it stands.
Only earnings get 1.16m won off, then 70 percent
The only income with a deduction is earnings. Notice art. 6(1) takes 1.16m won a month off (item 1) and then 30 percent of what is left (item 2), leaving 70 percent. Each spouse gets the deduction separately (art. 6(2)).
Public pensions such as the National Pension or the civil-service pension (Decree art. 2(1)4) and business or rental income get no such deduction. The same 2m won counts as 588,000 won if earned and 2m if it is a pension — 3.4 times apart. Interest loses only 40,000 won a month (art. 6-2).
Earnings up to 1.16m won a month count as nothing. This is the line that surprises people who keep working past 65 — money you work for is trimmed by three tenths; money you draw as a pension is not trimmed at all.
The last step is 34,970 won; one won more is nothing
Inside the limit, the pension is capped at the gap between the limit and your recognised income (Decree art. 11(1)). For a single person, income up to 2,120,300 won pays the full 349,700 won; above that the pension shrinks with the gap; and from 2,435,030 won it stops at 34,970 won, 10 percent of the base. That is the floor.
But one won over 2.47m won and it is zero. Act art. 3(1) gives the entitlement only to those whose recognised income is at or below the limit. The 34,970 won floor works only inside the line.
| Recognised income (single) | Monthly pension | Why |
|---|---|---|
| up to 2,120,300 won | 349,700 won | gap at least the base |
| 2,120,300 won to 2,435,030 won | the gap | Decree art. 11(1) |
| 2,435,030 won to 2.47m won | 34,970 won | 10 percent floor |
| over 2.47m won | 0 won | Act art. 3(1), "at or below" |
| The boundaries are our subtraction: 2.47m won − 349,700 won = 2,120,300 won and 2.47m won − 34,970 won = 2,435,030 won. For a couple the floor is 20 percent of the base, 69,940 won, for both together. | ||
One couple, worked through
A couple in a small city, each earning 1.5m won a month, the husband drawing 600,000 of National Pension, a 200m home, 30m in savings and no debt: earnings count as (1.5m − 1.16m won) × 70% = 238,000 won each, the pension counts whole at 600,000, the home as (200m − 85m won) × 4% ÷ 12 = 383,333, the savings as (30m − 20m won) × 4% ÷ 12 = 33,333. Recognised income is 1,492,666 won, inside the couple limit of 3,952,000 won with room to spare, so they get 279,760 won each, 559,520 won together.
Questions that remain
What if I live in my child's home?
If the home's assessed value is 600m won or more, "free-rent income" is imputed (notice art. 4): assessed value × 78/10,000 ÷ 12 (Rule art. 2(2)), so a 600m home adds 390,000 won a month. Under 600m it is nothing. The calculator leaves this out.
Does the National Pension reduce the Basic Pension?
It counts twice. The amount you draw goes whole into assessed income, and separately there is the National Pension linkage reduction (Act art. 5). The formula for the latter is in the Basic Pension guide; this calculator applies only the former.
What about a jeonse deposit?
It is general property. For a landlord, the deposit owed back to a tenant is debt, but only up to 50 percent of the home's value. That cap is not applied here — debt is subtracted as entered.
And a luxury car past ten years?
It leaves item 4 and becomes general property, so it gets the allowance and the 4% ÷ 12 conversion. A 40m car that was 40m a month becomes, at most, a little over 130,000 a month once it turns ten.
What does the calculator not see?
The National Pension linkage, free-rent income, the 40,000 won interest deduction, gifted or disposed property, the 50 percent cap on tenant-deposit debt, and the supplement that can lift the pension above the base are all left out. Property is taken at assessed value, which is not the market price.
Sources
Basic Pension Act [in force 1 Oct 2025] — art. 2(4) (recognised income = assessed income + property converted), art. 3(1) ("at or below" the limit), art. 5 (National Pension linkage), art. 8(1) (20 percent couple reduction).
Enforcement Decree [in force 30 Jul 2026] — art. 2(1) (what counts as income; item 4 public transfers), art. 11(1) (income-reversal reduction; floor 10 percent, couples 20).
Enforcement Rule [in force 30 Jul 2026] — art. 2(2) (free-rent income at 78/10,000), art. 4(1) (the four items of property conversion and "plus the amount in item 4"), art. 4(2) (4 percent a year).
Ministry of Health and Welfare notice 2026-156, detailed standards for the selection limit, base pension and recognised income [in force 30 Jul 2026] — art. 2 (limits 2.47m won and 3,952,000 won), art. 3 (base 349,700 won), art. 4 (free rent, 600m), art. 6 (earnings, 1.16m won and 30 percent), art. 6-2 (interest, 40,000), art. 8 (three-tier allowance), art. 9 (financial assets, 20m won), art. 11 (cars, 40m won and ten years).
The point of this piece is the word order of Rule art. 4(1) — the rate and the division by 12 come first, item 4 is added afterwards. That is why a car or a membership enters monthly recognised income at its full price.
The script was checked against the same model across 10,368 combinations in both languages — 2 households × 3 areas × 4 own earnings × 3 spouse earnings × 3 other incomes × 4 property values × 3 financial values × 2 debts × 2 cars, with no mismatch. Percentages are applied as integers and fractions of a won are dropped; the statute has no rounding rule, and the official figure may differ by a won or so.
Where to check
The recognised income here is an estimate. The Service works from assessed values and bank records, so confirm on Bokjiro's Basic Pension simulator or with the National Pension Service (1355). The pension formula and the National Pension linkage are in the Basic Pension guide, the National Pension amount itself in the National Pension calculator, and the three tiers together in the three-tier pension.
