Your salary went up, but the amount hitting your account feels smaller than expected. That's because four social insurances and income tax come out of your gross pay. Enter your annual salary below to estimate your 2026 monthly take-home pay.
1. What comes out. The four insurances take 9.7174% of gross pay first — on KRW 4 million a month that is 388,695 won. Income tax and local income tax come on top.
2. What people miss. Pension contributions stop at KRW 6.59 million a month, so the effective rate falls to 8.10% at 10 million and 6.53% at 20 million. And the ₩200,000 meal allowance is tax-free only for “a person who is not provided with meals” — a staff canteen changes that.
3. How to use it. Enter the tax-free amount exactly as it appears on your payslip. Income tax swings widely with the number of dependants, so this is an estimate. The caps and floors reset in July, not January.
| National Pension 4.75% | 0 |
| Health Insurance 3.595% | 0 |
| Long-term Care 13.14% of health | 0 |
| Employment Insurance 0.9% | 0 |
| Income Tax | 0 |
| Local Income Tax 10% of income tax | 0 |
| Total deductions | 0 |
Enter your salary to calculate automatically. This is an estimate; actual withholding (NTS tax table) and year-end settlement may differ. Amounts are in KRW.
Six deductions — where the money goes
Gross pay is reduced by four social insurances and two taxes. All four are set by different bodies — the National Pension Service, two Ministry of Health and Welfare committees, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The rates below are what each body announced for 2026.
| Item | Full rate | Employee share | Set by |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Pension | 9.5% | 4.75% (half) | National Pension Service |
| Health Insurance | 7.19% | 3.595% (half) | Health Insurance Policy Committee |
| Long-term Care | 13.14% of the health premium (0.9448% of income) | 0.4724% (half) | Long-term Care Committee |
| Employment Insurance (jobseeker benefit) | 0.9% employee + 0.9% employer | 0.9% (all of it) | Ministry of Employment and Labor |
| Employee total | — | 9.7174% | our calculation |
| Income tax | Withheld per the National Tax Service simplified withholding table (varies with dependents and tax-free items) | National Tax Service | |
| Local income tax | 10% of income tax | — | |
Employment insurance is not a clean 50/50. Beyond the 0.9% each for jobseeker benefits, the ministry's table carries an employment security and vocational training levy that only the employer pays (0.25% under 150 staff / 0.45% for priority-support firms at 150+ / 0.65% for 150–1,000 / 0.85% above 1,000). The bigger the employer, the more it pays.
Industrial accident insurance is absent from this calculation. It is entirely employer-funded, so it never appears on a payslip.
The higher your pay, the smaller the percentage taken
The combined 9.7174% looks flat across incomes. But only the pension has a ceiling. Standard monthly income stops at ₩6.59 million, so above that the pension contribution stops growing.
| Monthly taxable pay | Pension | Health + care | Employment | Total | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₩2,000,000 | 95,000 | 81,348 | 18,000 | 194,348 | 9.72% |
| ₩4,000,000 | 190,000 | 162,695 | 36,000 | 388,695 | 9.72% |
| ₩6,590,000 (ceiling) | 313,025 | 268,041 | 59,310 | 640,376 | 9.72% |
| ₩10,000,000 | 313,025 (frozen) | 406,738 | 90,000 | 809,763 | 8.10% |
| ₩20,000,000 | 313,025 (frozen) | 813,477 | 180,000 | 1,306,502 | 6.53% |
At ₩2 million and at ₩6.59 million the share taken is identical: 9.72%. At ₩10 million it is 8.10%, at ₩20 million 6.53% (our calculation). Because the pension contribution is stuck at ₩313,025.
Reading that as “high earners pay less” is only half right. The pension benefit is also calculated only up to ₩6.59 million — contribution and entitlement stop at the same point. The structure is in our national pension estimator.
Health insurance has a remuneration ceiling too, but at a far higher figure that the rows above never reach. The amount is set by ministerial notice rather than by the legislation, so it is not modelled (see below).
Why this calculator uses 7.19%
The ministry's release reads: “the 2026 rate for both workplace and regional subscribers is 7.19%, up 0.1 percentage points (1.48% year on year).” Those two figures in one sentence do not reconcile.
| Calculation | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 7.09% + 0.1pp | 7.19% | holds |
| 0.1 ÷ 7.09 | 1.41% | the release says 1.48% |
| 7.09 × 1.0148 | 7.1949% | rounds to 7.19% |
The decided figure looks like roughly 7.1949%, with both “7.19%” and “0.1pp” being rounded presentations. Which one is pre-rounding is not stated anywhere in the release.
Yet the long-term care rate was computed from the rounded 7.19%. Multiply the care committee's “0.9448% of income” and “13.14% of the health premium” back out —
7.19% × 13.14% = 0.944766% → rounds to 0.9448% matches the release
Using 7.1949% instead gives 0.9454%, which does not match. So within the government's own documents some arithmetic uses 7.19 while another sentence uses a 1.48% increase. This calculator uses the published 7.19% — that is what payroll systems apply.
Note. This calculator assumes a 200,000 KRW meal allowance as the default tax-free amount. Actual tax-free items vary by employer — enter the figure from your payslip for accuracy.
Why the same salary pays differently
The two biggest variables are how many dependants you have and which parts of your pay are tax-free.
- More dependants means less income tax withheld, so more lands in the account.
- Tax-free allowances (a 200,000 won monthly meal allowance, a vehicle allowance and so on) shrink the taxable base, so tax and insurance premiums fall together. That is why the same headline salary pays differently depending on how the package is built.
Note. This calculator assumes the 200,000 won meal allowance as tax-free by default. What is actually tax-free depends on your employer's pay rules — for an exact figure, enter the tax-free amount from your own payslip.
The ₩200,000 meal allowance — there is a proviso attached
The more of your pay is tax-free, the more you take home. But the most common item — the ₩200,000 meal allowance — comes with a condition in Article 12 of the Income Tax Act (non-taxable income).
Article 12(3)(l) — meals or other food provided to an employee through a workplace canteen or a similar method, or a meal allowance of ₩200,000 or less per month received by an employee (limited to a person who is not provided with meals or other food)
The parenthesis is the point — “limited to a person who is not provided with meals.”
The provision sets ①being fed through a canteen and ②a meal allowance of up to ₩200,000 received by someone who is not fed side by side with “or.” It is not built to give you both.
→ Running a staff canteen and also treating a ₩200,000 meal allowance as tax-free does not sit comfortably with the wording. If your payslip shows a tax-free meal allowance and your employer also provides meals, it is worth asking.
How this is handled in practice cannot be read off the statute, so we make no assertion. Ask payroll or a tax professional.
Two things in the same provision that changed a lot
- Childbirth support payments are tax-free in full (art. 12(3)(m)1)) — payments received from an employer in connection with the birth of the employee's or spouse's child, within two years of the birth, on up to two occasions, in their entirety. There is no cap. Persons in a special relationship with the employer are excluded.
- Childcare allowance is ₩200,000 per child (same item, 2)) — for a child aged 6 or under, up to ₩200,000 a month per child. Per child — two children means up to ₩400,000.
- Social insurance premiums paid by the employer are also tax-free (item (n)) — the half your company pays is not counted as your income.
- Overtime, night and holiday pay for production workers is tax-free on conditions (item (r)). The wage-level and occupation conditions sit in Presidential Decree, which we did not open.
The health-premium remuneration cap — the amount is not in the law
At very high incomes the health premium is capped too. The problem is that you cannot find the amount in the legislation.
National Health Insurance Act Enforcement Decree, Article 32
1(a) Upper limit on an employee subscriber's remuneration-based premium: an amount published by the Minister of Health and Welfare, having regard to 30 times the average remuneration-based premium of two years earlier.
2(a) Lower limit: an amount published within a range of 50/1,000 to below 85/1,000 of that same average.
The Decree fixes only a multiplier formula and leaves the actual figure to a ministerial notice. Notices are not legislation and do not open like provisions at the National Law Information Centre, so this article still prints no amount. What is confirmed is that it runs on “two years earlier” — the same lag structure seen in the retirement health insurance article.
Questions that remain
Will the rates be the same next year?
No. The pension rate rises 0.5pp a year from 2026 to 13% in 2033 (the agency's own schedule). Health insurance is re-set each year by the Health Insurance Policy Committee, long-term care by the Long-term Care Committee. The pension income ceiling and floor are published by end-March and take effect in July — July, not January.
Why does the same salary give different take-home?
The biggest factors are dependents and tax-free allowances. More dependents mean less withheld under the tax table, and tax-free pay cuts insurance and tax at the same time, because it shrinks the taxable base itself. That is why identical salaries produce different net pay.
How much does a rate rise cost me?
For the pension, a 0.5pp rise is 0.25pp on the employee (it is split). On ₩4 million a month that is ₩10,000 (our calculation). Anyone already at the ₩6.59M ceiling only pays more when the ceiling itself rises.
Why does the employer pay more employment insurance?
The jobseeker-benefit portion is 0.9% each, equally. The difference is the employment security and vocational training levy, which the ministry's table assigns to the employer alone, at a rate that rises with headcount (0.25% to 0.85%). It never shows on a payslip.
Where is industrial accident insurance?
Entirely employer-funded, so it is not deducted from pay. Rates vary widely by industry. We could not obtain the industry rate table this time.
Don't judge a job offer by gross salary alone — take-home can be lower than expected. Check net pay and pay structure before negotiating.
Sources
- Korea Ministry of Government Legislation, National Law Information Centre — Income Tax Act, Article 12 (non-taxable income), subparagraph 3. Source for item (l)'s ₩200,000 meal allowance and its proviso, item (m) on childbirth support and childcare allowance, item (n) on employer-paid premiums, and item (r) on production-worker overtime.
- National Law Information Centre — National Health Insurance Act Enforcement Decree, Article 32. Source for the “30 times the average of two years earlier” upper limit and the 50/1,000–85/1,000 lower-limit range, with the actual amounts left to ministerial notice.
- National Pension Service — agency source — “Contribution — amount and rate” (checked 30 July 2026). Source for the 9.5% rate, the ₩410,000–₩6,590,000 standard income band, the half-and-half employer split, and the schedule to 13% by 2033.
- Ministry of Health and Welfare — agency source — “2026 health insurance rate set at 7.19%” (28 August 2025, 15th Health Insurance Policy Committee). Source for the 7.19% rate, the phrase “0.1 percentage points (1.48% year on year)”, and the ₩158,464 → ₩160,699 average employee premium.
- Ministry of Health and Welfare — agency source — “2026 long-term care rate 0.9448%” (4 November 2025, 6th Long-term Care Committee). Source for 0.9448% of income, 13.14% of the health premium, and the statement that the care premium is the health premium multiplied by that ratio.
- Ministry of Employment and Labor — agency source — “Employment Insurance Fund — contribution rates” (checked 30 July 2026). Source for 0.9% employee and 0.9% employer for jobseeker benefits (since 1 July 2022) and the 0.25% / 0.45% / 0.65% / 0.85% employer-only levy.
- Our own calculation. The 9.7174% employee total, the 9.72% / 8.10% / 6.53% effective rates, every won figure in the tables, 0.1 ÷ 7.09 = 1.41% and 7.09 × 1.0148 = 7.1949% are ours, not published figures. Check: 7.19% × 13.14% = 0.944766% matches the care committee's 0.9448%.
Where to check further
- The withholding amount for your own number of dependants. The income tax here is a standard-formula estimate. The NTS Hometax “simplified withholding table” gives the actual figure once you enter dependants and children.
- The health-premium remuneration ceiling and floor. Enforcement Decree art. 32 sets only a formula (“30 times the average two years prior”); the amount comes by ministerial notice. Ask the National Health Insurance Service (1577-1000) or your payroll team — below 10 million a month it never binds.
- Conditions for tax-free overtime pay for production workers. Art. 12(3)(n) leaves pay level and job type to Presidential Decree. Open the Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree at the National Law Information Centre to see whether your role qualifies.
As of July 2026. The rates come from four agencies' pages; the amounts and effective rates are our arithmetic. This is an estimate — actual withholding follows the NTS table and the final figure depends on year-end settlement. General information, not tax advice. Hourly work is covered in our part-time pay calculator, whether a monthly wage clears the 2027 minimum (10,700 won) in the minimum wage checker, leaving payments in the severance calculator, and the annual reconciliation in year-end tax settlement prep.
