If the amount landing in your bank account does not match the salary your company quoted, the answer is in the deduction block of your payslip. Four social insurances, the long-term care add-on, and two taxes come out automatically every month, usually seven lines in total. Once you know what each rate is, you can check your own payslip in about five minutes.
The seven lines, and the employee rate for each
These are the employee-side rates for 2026. Rates are adjusted periodically, so check the current figures against any payslip from a later year rather than assuming these carry over.
- National Pension 4.75% — calculated on standard monthly income, which is capped, so contributions stop rising above the ceiling
- Health Insurance 3.595% — calculated on monthly remuneration
- Long-term Care Insurance — 13.14% of your health insurance premium, not of your salary. It is an add-on to the health line, which is why the figure looks small
- Employment Insurance 0.9% — calculated on monthly remuneration
- Industrial Accident Insurance 0% — paid entirely by the employer, so its absence from your payslip is correct rather than an omission
- Income tax — progressive, from 6% to 45% depending on the tax base
- Local income tax — 10% of the income tax figure above it
Why the amount moves from month to month
Even with unchanged rates, a month containing a bonus or extra allowances has a different base, so the deductions move with it. Differences of a few hundred won come from rounding and periodic reconciliation and are normal. What is worth asking about is the opposite case: the base amount is unchanged but a deduction jumps. That is the pattern to raise with HR.
Two things specific to foreign employees
For the national pension, whether you can later combine your contribution period or claim a lump-sum refund depends on whether your home country has a social security agreement with Korea. The terms differ by country, so check against your own nationality rather than what a colleague was told. For income tax, foreign workers can elect a flat tax rate instead of the progressive scale, and which one leaves you better off depends on your income level. Raise it with your company or a tax adviser at year-end settlement rather than choosing blind.
A five-minute self-check
Find the base figure on your payslip, multiply it by each rate above, and see whether the results land near the numbers in the deduction block. If something is far off, it can mean the enrolment itself was never filed correctly. You can check your own enrolment status directly through the four social insurances information portal, and by phone through the National Health Insurance Service on 1577-1000 or the National Pension Service on 1355.
Worked examples for each line, and how these deductions feed into year-end settlement, are in the payslip deductions guide on the WeBring blog.