Guides to Korea's child tax credit for low-income households — the child credit, or janyeo jangnyeogeum — usually stop at one figure: up to 1m won per child. That is the maximum. What actually arrives depends on which band your earnings counted fall into, and the bands are set out in table 11-2 of the Enforcement Decree to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act.
1. The number of children multiplies straight through. The table gives a per-child figure; you multiply it by the number of dependent children. Nothing tapers off after the first.
2. It is this or the child tax credit, not both. Article 100-30(2) rules out combining them. But the age tests differ, so the two only overlap for children aged 13 to 17 — 5 years.
3. It ends on a cliff. Unlike the earned income tax credit, it does not glide down to zero — the last row of the table still pays 506,000 won per child, and then eligibility stops.
4. There are two asset thresholds, not one. Before 240m won ends eligibility, 170m won already halves the amount.
Enter the household type, the number of children and your earnings counted, and it returns what the table sets. Add assets and the timing of the claim and the reductions are applied too.
It uses the table, not the formula. Figures follow the rule behind Enforcement Decree table 11-2 (each band priced at whichever end favours the claimant, rounded up to 1,000 won), with the 50% asset reduction (the table's own note), the 95% for a late claim (art. 100-7(2) as applied), and the 30,000-won floor and 15,000-won cut-off (art. 100-31(2)). It cannot be combined with the child tax credit (art. 100-30(2)) — this calculator returns the child credit only. An estimate — the real figure is set by the tax office.
What this calculator does
Article 100-29(1) of the Act sets out the arithmetic. For a one-earner household: 1m won per child below 21m won, and above it 1m won − (earnings counted − 21m won) × 0.5m won/49m won. But paragraph (2) of the same article provides that the credit is calculated by applying the banded benefit table prescribed by Presidential Decree. The amount itself comes from Enforcement Decree table 11-2.
So this calculator uses the rule behind the table rather than the formula. It is the same single sentence as the earned income tax credit table.
Within each band, apply the formula at whichever end gives the larger figure, then round up to the nearest 1,000 won.
The child credit only ever plateaus and falls, so in practice that means the bottom of the band.
Figures rebuilt from that rule were checked against 21 rows of the published table, with no disagreement. The table runs to 100 bands, each 0.5m won wide — five times the 100,000-won bands of the earned income tax credit table.
Here the table and the formula almost agree
For the earned income tax credit the two diverge by as much as 42,000 won. For the child credit the widest gap is 6,444 won.
The bands are five times wider and yet the gap is far smaller, because the taper is shallow: a one-earner household loses only 0.5m won across 49m won of income. Crossing a whole 0.5m won band costs a little over 5,000 won. So here the familiar reassurance that "the formula is close enough" is actually true — which it was not for the earned income tax credit.
Something else is large instead: the number of children multiplies straight through. The table figure is per child, so a one-earner household on 38m won of earnings counted gets 827,000 won per child — 1,654,000 won for two.
The overlap with the child tax credit is five years wide
Article 100-30(2) provides that the child credit cannot be applied together with the child tax credit under article 59-2 of the Income Tax Act. Guides render this as "choose whichever is larger". In practice the choice rarely arises.
The reason is the age tests. A dependent child for the child credit must be under 18 (Act art. 100-4(1)2), while the child tax credit applies to children and grandchildren aged 13 or over (Income Tax Act art. 59-2(1), amended 21 April 2026). They overlap only from 13 to 17.
| Child's age | Child credit | Child tax credit |
|---|---|---|
| Under 13 | Yes | No |
| 13 to 17 | Yes | Yes — the only overlap |
| 18 and over | No | Yes |
| Act art. 100-4(1)2 and Income Tax Act art. 59-2(1). A child who is under 18 on any day of the tax period counts as under 18 (art. 100-4(4)), so turning 18 during the year does not end that year. A child with a disability is not subject to the age limit, and there the overlap continues past 17. | ||
Where they do overlap, the child credit is usually larger. The child tax credit is 250,000 won for one child, 550,000 won for two and 950,000 won for three (400,000 won for each beyond two); the child credit is up to 1m won per child. On 38m won of earnings counted with two children that is 1,654,000 won against 550,000 won.
There is also a structural difference. The child tax credit needs tax to deduct from. If income is low enough that little tax is computed, part of the deduction goes unused. The child credit arrives as cash regardless. Across the income range where the child credit applies at all, there is often nothing to weigh up.
The end is a cliff
The earned income tax credit reaches zero before its income ceiling. The child credit does not. The formula is drawn to reach 0.5m won at 70m won, and eligibility runs to annual total income below 70m won (art. 100-28(1)2).
So the last row of the table starts at 69,500,000 won and pays 506,000 won per child — and eligibility stops there.
| Dependent children | At 69,500,000 won | At 70m won |
|---|---|---|
| One | 506,000 won | Nothing |
| Two | 1,012,000 won | Nothing |
| Three | 1,518,000 won | Nothing |
| The last row of Enforcement Decree table 11-2, with Act art. 100-28(1)2. The table starts at 40,000 won and ends at 69,999,990 won. | ||
With three children, 1,518,000 won disappears at once. If a year-end bonus or a side income would carry you across that line, it is worth measuring first.
Alongside the earned income tax credit
The two are counted separately. For a one-earner household the earned income tax credit ends at 32m won of earnings counted, while the child credit runs to 70m won. There is therefore a wide stretch — from 32m won to 70m won — where the earned income tax credit is gone but the child credit is not.
Lower down they stack. And if you claimed the earned income tax credit on the half-year basis, the child credit counts as claimed too: art. 100-30(3) treats a half-year claimant as having claimed that tax period's child credit under paragraph (1).
A determination follows the table
The table is the calculation; a separate determination follows it (art. 100-31(2)). It differs from the earned income tax credit.
| Calculated amount | Child credit | Earned income tax credit |
|---|---|---|
| Below 15,000 won | Nothing | Nothing — the same |
| 15,000 won to 30,000 won | 30,000 won | 100,000 won on the rising side |
| Act art. 100-31(2). The child credit has no rising-band guarantee, because the child credit has no rising band. | ||
The asset reduction is the same: household assets of 170m won or more cut the amount to 50%, and 240m won or more ends eligibility. The 50% reduction is written into the note under the table rather than the Act. A late claim is determined at 95% (art. 100-7(2) as applied).
Questions that remain
Why is there no single-household column?
Because a household with a dependent child is not a single household by definition (art. 100-3(5)1). The child credit has only one-earner and two-earner columns.
Why is the two-earner column empty below 6m won?
A two-earner household requires the resident and the spouse to have 3m won or more each (art. 100-3(5)3), so the total cannot be lower. The published table marks those rows as not applicable.
Why are earnings counted and annual total income entered separately?
They measure different things. Eligibility runs on annual total income, which includes interest, dividends, pension and other income; the amount runs on earnings counted — employment, religious workers' and business income after its sector rate. Interest, dividends and pension therefore cut eligibility but never raise the amount. The two are separated in household types and the two meanings of income.
Can it be claimed half-yearly?
The child credit itself is not paid in half-year instalments — only the earned income tax credit is. It is determined once, on the regular May claim. But a half-year claim for the earned income tax credit counts as a claim for the child credit (art. 100-30(3)), and in that case the dependent-child test is applied as at the end of the preceding tax period (art. 100-4(6)).
What if the determination differs from this calculator?
Start with the figure entered as earnings counted — the sector rate on business income and the aggregation of a spouse's income are the usual culprits. Then check the dependent-child test: annual income of 1m won or less (art. 100-4(1)3), and grandchildren or siblings only where the parents are absent or unable to support the child (the proviso to art. 100-4(1)1). The test is applied as at the end of the tax period (art. 100-4(3)).
Sources
Restriction of Special Taxation Act [in force 1 January 2026] [Act no. 21223, 23 December 2025] — art. 100-28 (eligibility), art. 100-29 (calculation and the table), art. 100-30 (relationship with the child tax credit), art. 100-31 (determination).
Income Tax Act art. 59-2 (child tax credit) — paragraph (1) for the age test and the amounts, amended 21 April 2026.
Enforcement Decree to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act — table 11-2, the child credit benefit table (relating to art. 100-29(1)), and the note beneath it.
The articles and the table were read directly on the Korean Law Information Centre. The table was read in the annex viewer at magnification, and figures rebuilt from the rule were checked row by row against 21 rows of it — both household types, and the point where the table ends.
The calculator script was checked against the same model — 504 combinations of household type, number of children, income, assets and claim timing, all matching.
Where to check
Hometax — earned income and child credit claims. The tax office calculates from the income data it already holds. A notice arriving is a good sign that you qualify.
The May global income tax return period. That is when the regular claim is made; payment usually follows around the end of August.
National Tax Consultation Centre, 126. Fastest route when the dependent-child test is unclear.
The whole picture is in the earned income and child credit guide, and the earned income side is calculated in the EITC calculator. Why table and formula differ is in the formula and the table; the definitions are in household types and the two meanings of income.
