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Oct 13·Climate Card 30-day pass endedAug 28·2026 payroll rates: three went upAug 28·Tenant protection: the one-day gapAug 25·2027 minimum wage: ₩10,700/hrOct 13·Climate Card 30-day pass endedAug 28·2026 payroll rates: three went upAug 28·Tenant protection: the one-day gapAug 25·2027 minimum wage: ₩10,700/hr
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Leaving Korea

Severance Pay Calculator

One year of work earns you roughly one month of pay. What you end up with depends on a three-month average, a legal floor, and a tax most people forget. See what actually lands.

Your inputs aren’t saved. No login, and everything runs in your browser. The formula mirrors the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s official calculator, with an added tax estimate. Figures as of Aug 25, 2026.
Your job
both tests met on these numbers

The law averages the last three months of pay, then pays 30 days of that average for each year you worked. Bonuses and leave allowance count for a quarter of their annual value.

Estimated severanceestimateThe Ministry of Employment and Labor's formula applied to your numbers. Excluded periods and company rules can change it.
You would receive (est.): 10,188,308 KRW
0KRW
after retirement income tax, for your service so far
i
Roughly one month of pay for each year worked. It must reach you within 14 days of leaving unless you agree otherwise, and late payment carries 20% a year in interest.
Years of service3.5 years
Average daily wage97,826 KRW
Severance before tax10,283,800 KRW
Retirement income tax (est.)−95,492 KRW
You would receive (est.)10,188,308 KRW
Leaving Korea? Ask to be paid in cash Severance normally has to be paid into an IRP (individual retirement pension) account. A work-visa holder who leaves Korea after finishing the job is an explicit exception, and so is any payout of ₩3,000,000 or less. Say so before your last day, or you may end up with a Korean account you cannot easily close from abroad.
On E-9 or H-2? Your employer pays 8.3% of your monthly ordinary wage into departure guarantee insurance (출국만기보험), and that money reaches you only after you fly out. If it comes to less than the severance figured here, your employer owes you the difference. The insurance is a floor, not a cap.

A planning estimate using the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s formula. Excluded periods (probation, parental leave, work-injury leave), company schemes above the legal floor, and DB/DC pension plans can all move the real figure. Your payroll record decides it. Nothing you enter is stored.

Full guide

How it works

The one the Ministry of Employment and Labor uses in its own calculator: your average daily wage × 30 days × (days worked ÷ 365). The average comes from the last three months of pay divided by the calendar days in that period, not the working days. A quarter of your annual bonus and unused-leave allowance is added on top.

Anyone who worked at least one continuous year for the same employer and averaged at least 15 hours a week. Both tests must be met. Nationality does not matter. The Labor Standards Act forbids treating workers differently because of it, and even workers without valid status keep the entitlement.

Because the law sets a floor: if your three-month average comes out below your ordinary wage (통상임금), the ordinary wage is used instead. That protects anyone whose last months were thinned by unpaid leave or a drop in overtime. Enter your daily ordinary wage in the extra fields to check it.

It follows the National Tax Service’s published method for retirement income: it deducts an allowance for the years you served, spreads what is left across those years, deducts again on that figure, then applies the basic rates and adds 10% local tax. It is still an estimate. Excluded periods, or severance you already took out mid-employment (중간정산), change the real withholding.

Read next

Leaving Korea guide
The exit sequence, in order
Pension refund
Do you qualify, and for how much
Net salary
What your monthly pay becomes

Questions people ask

Within 14 days of your last day, unless you and your employer agree to extend it. After that, unpaid severance accrues 20% a year in delay interest, and the claim itself stays alive for three years, including after you leave the country.

Usually yes. But a work-visa holder who leaves Korea after the job ends is an explicit exception in the enforcement decree, as is any payout of ₩3,000,000 or less. Raise it before your last day. Opening a Korean pension account you then have to close from overseas is a real headache.

Estimates with the statutory formula (30 days of average daily wage per year of service), assuming no bonus or annual-leave allowance and a 92-day averaging window: about 2.93 million won after 1 year, 8.81 million after 3 years and 14.68 million after 5 years on 3,000,000 a month; about 11.75 million after 3 years on 4,000,000. Before tax, and before the ordinary-wage floor if that applies to you. Run your own dates above.

File a complaint (진정) with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, online through its labor portal or at the office covering your workplace. Counseling is available in English and Chinese on 1350, and the Korea Legal Aid Corporation (132) represents foreign workers in wage and severance cases for free.

Figures as of Aug 25, 2026 — every rule, with its statute and official source, is in the full Leaving Korea guide.

A general estimate from the numbers you enter, not legal or tax advice. Excluded periods, company schemes above the statutory floor, and retirement-pension plans change the real amount. Your payroll record and the Ministry of Employment and Labor decide it.
Written and maintained by one person

This comes from more than three years in Korean retail banking — at the branch counter and building financial software. No bank or institution has a say in what is written here. Who makes this, and how →