Tax-free allowances on Korean payslips

Some wage items can be excluded from income-tax calculations when their statutory conditions and caps are met. Check each allowance separately.

Checked 2026-09-23 · Estimates and reference information, not legal or tax advice.

Common items and caps

The guide’s 2026 examples include a meal allowance up to KRW 200,000 per month when qualifying conditions are met. Other tax-free categories have their own purpose, documentation and limits; a payment’s label alone is not enough.

Conditions differ

A cash meal allowance, childcare-related payments and reimbursement of actual business expenses are not interchangeable. Check who qualifies, whether the employer separately provides a benefit and whether the payment is truly a reimbursement.

A payslip example

Separate gross pay from its tax-free portion before estimating taxable pay. For example, an otherwise qualifying KRW 250,000 meal allowance includes only KRW 200,000 under the stated monthly cap; KRW 50,000 remains taxable.

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Sources

These Korean-language sources were checked on 2026-09-23. Laws and rates may have changed; consult the originals before an important decision.