Korea's monthly rent tax credit is usually summarised as "15% up to 80m won of salary, 17% up to 55m". But the statute sets four thresholds, and in February 2026 the way the rent itself is counted changed.
1. There are four thresholds. Total salary decides once, and global income decides again.
2. The rent is counted by days, not by months paid — Decree art. 95(3), amended 27 February 2026.
3. The 10m won ceiling is shared. A spouse claiming separately does not double it.
4. Three or more children widens the size test to 100 square metres — amended the same day.
Enter the income, the rent and the days lived there, and it works through in the order the statute sets.
It follows the order the statute sets. The rate is 17% where total salary is 55m won or less and 15% up to 80m won, with nothing above that. But global income over 45m won drops the rate to 15%, and over 70m won removes the credit entirely — four thresholds in all (art. 95-2(1)). The rent counted follows Decree art. 95(3): the contract total divided by the days of the contract, times the days rented in the year. This calculator assumes the rent is the same each month, so it uses "rent x 12 x days / 365". Rent above 10m won is treated as nil. The spouse's additional credit (art. 95-2(2), added 23 December 2025) shares the ceiling rather than doubling it, and the spouse's rate follows the spouse's own income. Eligibility itself — no home owned by the household, national-housing size or 400m won assessed value, registered address — is not included. An estimate.
Four thresholds, not two
Article 95-2(1), read as it stands:
"an employee with employment income whose total salary for the tax period is 80m won or less (excluding a person whose global income exceeds 70m won) … 15 per cent of that amount [17 per cent for an employee whose total salary is 55m won or less (excluding a person whose global income exceeds 45m won)]"
The brackets appear twice, and each one carries a second test on global income. However low the salary, global income above 45m won makes the rate 15% rather than 17%, and above 70m won there is no credit at all.
With employment income alone the two move together. They part company when other income is in the mix — a side business, rental income, or financial income brought into global taxation.
The rent is counted by days, not by months paid
This is what changed. Decree article 95(3) was amended on 27 February 2026, and the method is now written into the text.
"calculated by dividing the total rent payable over the lease term stated in the contract by the number of days of the lease term, and multiplying by the number of days rented in the tax period"
Live there for the whole year and it comes to the same as "rent times twelve". What changes is the year you move in or out.
At 600,000 won a month on a 50m won salary, a full year gives rent of 7.2m won and a credit of 1.22m won. Move into the same room at the start of July — 183 days — and it is 3.61m won of rent and 613,676 won.
"Six months, so half" lands near the same figure, but the unit being counted is different. The gap shows up in a year that runs from February to November, where the months are not of equal length.
The ceiling: above 833,334 won a month, paying more adds nothing
The proviso to paragraph (1) says that where the rent "exceeds 10m won, the excess shall be treated as nil". 10m won a year is 833,334 won a month, and that is where the ceiling bites.
So the most anyone can receive is 1.7m won at 17%, or 1.5m won at 15%.
A spouse can now claim too, but the ceiling does not double
Paragraph (2) was added on 23 December 2025. Where the household head has taken the credit, the spouse may take it as well — aimed at couples who live apart and each pay rent.
The second sentence settles the ceiling:
"where the combined rent of the household head and the spouse exceeds 10m won, the amount qualifying … shall be the spouse's rent less that excess (zero if negative)"
The excess comes off the spouse's side only. If the head has already used the full 10m won, the spouse gets nothing. What the amendment adds is a second claimant, not a bigger ceiling.
Decree article 95(5), added the same day, supplies the conditions: the head's address and the spouse's address must be in different cities, counties or autonomous districts, and where the head's lineal relatives live at the spouse's address, they must own no home.
Three or more children widens the size test
Decree article 95(2)1 was also amended on 27 February 2026.
| Household | Qualifying home |
|---|---|
| Three or more qualifying children or grandchildren | 100 sqm or less, or assessed value of 400m won or less |
| Otherwise | National housing size, or assessed value of 400m won or less |
Either one suffices — a home over the size limit still qualifies if its assessed value is 400m won or less. Officetels and gosiwon count too (same paragraph, in brackets).
Questions that remain
What if there is not enough tax to deduct from?
The remainder is lost. The credit comes off computed global income tax, so where less is owed only that much is received. There is no carry-forward and no refund. Put a figure in the "computed income tax" box to see where it is cut.
Must you be the household head?
No. The bracket in paragraph (1) says that where the head does not take this or the related housing deductions, a member of the household may. Registered foreign nationals are included as well (paragraph (1) and Decree paragraph (4)).
What does this calculator not check?
Eligibility itself — whether the household owns no home at the end of the tax period, whether the home meets the size or value test, whether the contract address matches the registered address (Decree art. 95(2)3), and whether the tenant is the taxpayer or a qualifying dependant (same paragraph, item 4). Miss one and it is not the amount that changes but whether there is a credit at all.
What if last year was missed?
An amended return reaches back five years, and it can be filed directly rather than through an employer.
Sources
Restriction of Special Taxation Act art. 95-2 (tax credit for monthly rent) — (1) income tests, rates and ceiling; (2) the spouse's additional credit, added 23 December 2025; (3) application; (4).
Enforcement Decree of the same Act, art. 95 — (1) the household; (2) qualifying homes, amended 27 February 2026; (3) how the rent is calculated, amended 27 February 2026; (4) foreign nationals; (5) the spouse conditions, added 27 February 2026.
The articles were read directly on the Korean Law Information Centre. The two points this article turns on — proration by days and the 100 sqm test for three or more children — both entered the text in the 27 February 2026 amendment, so no earlier source can contain them.
The script was checked against the same model across 12,600 combinations of salary, global income, rent, days rented, spouse's rent and computed tax, all matching.
Where to check
Eligibility and how to claim are set out in the monthly rent credit guide. The whole year-end process is in preparing for year-end settlement, and for a jeonse deposit there is the jeonse-to-rent converter. Recovering a credit that was missed is covered in amended returns.
