Korean severance pay calculator
From the average wage to the amount after tax, every step shown.
Examples temporarily replace the input and settings. You can restore your previous work.
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Example
Example: an English teacher’s severance after a one-year contract in Korea
An English teacher at a private academy in Seoul worked from 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026, full-time, on 2,500,000 won a month with no bonus. Entered: the two dates and 2,500,000 as the monthly pay; the tax box stays ticked.
- Service: 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026 is 365 days; the leaving date is 1 March 2026, the day after the last day worked.
- Average pay: the three months before the leaving date, 1 December to 28 February, are 90 days and ₩7,500,000, so ₩83,333.33 a day.
- Severance: 83,333.33 × 30 × 365 ÷ 365 = ₩2,499,999 before tax.
- Tax: a ₩1,000,000 service deduction; the pay annualised to ₩17,999,988, less ₩13,999,993, leaves a base of ₩3,999,995: ₩19,999 income tax plus ₩1,999 local income tax.
| Case | Days of service | Before tax | Estimated tax | After tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Mar 2025 – 28 Feb 2026, ₩2,500,000 a month | 365 | ₩2,499,999 | ₩21,998 | ₩2,478,001 |
| Started 2 Mar 2025 instead | 364 | None: under a year | – | – |
| 1 Mar 2024 – 28 Feb 2026, ₩2,700,000 a month | 730 | ₩5,400,000 | ₩54,560 | ₩5,345,440 |
About a month’s pay for each year worked, less a small tax: ₩2,478,001 here. A contract one day short of a year pays nothing, so the start and end dates are worth checking. Paid into an IRP account, the tax is deferred.
How it works
- Enter the first and the last day worked; the leaving date is the day after.
- Enter the monthly pay, or the pay of the last three months if you know it.
- Add a bonus and leave pay if there were any; a quarter of each goes into the average.
- The pay, the tax and the amount after tax appear with the working.
Frequently asked questions
- How is Korean severance pay worked out?
- Daily average wage × 30 × days of service ÷ 365 (Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act, art. 8). The average is the pay of the three months before the leaving date over their days, plus a quarter of the year’s bonus and leave pay.
- Who is entitled?
- Anyone who worked a year or more for the same employer at 15 hours a week or more on average, full-time, fixed-term or part-time.
- How is it taxed?
- By the retirement income tax: a service deduction, the annualised pay, the annualised deduction and the basic rates, spread back over the years of service. Paid into an IRP account, the tax is deferred.
- Do foreign employees, such as English teachers, get severance pay?
- On the same terms as anyone else: a year or more with the same employer at 15 hours a week or more on average. Enter the dates and the monthly pay before tax, in won.
- What if the contract ends a day before the year is up?
- Then no severance is due: 2 March 2025 to 28 February 2026 is 364 days, and the calculator answers “Less than a year of continuous service: no severance pay is due”. 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026 is 365 days and qualifies.
- Why does the monthly ordinary wage raise the result?
- The law takes the ordinary wage when the average wage is lower (Labor Standards Act, art. 2(2)). A day of ordinary wage is the monthly figure ÷ 209 hours × 8, so with a flat salary typed in both boxes it beats the three-month average and the severance pay rises by 15% or so.
- Is this professional advice?
- No, it is a calculator. Contracts, collective agreements and individual circumstances can change the figures.
- Is what I type sent anywhere?
- No. The sums are worked out in your browser and nothing you type is sent or stored.
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