Korea House Downsizing Pension Deposit Eligibility Calculator
Check the age, home-count and official-value conditions, shared KRW 100 million capacity, six-month deposit deadline and five-year later-purchase boundary under Korean 2026 rules.
Before putting the proceeds of a smaller home into a pension account
Korea’s housing-difference pension deposit rule allows qualifying older one-home households to make additional pension contributions from a home sale.
It is a separate capacity test alongside the ordinary annual contribution limit, so checking only this year’s pension contributions is insufficient.
The six-month window can be easy to miss while arranging the move and repaying loans.
This calculator helps an owner and family members assess eligibility, the new deposit amount and the unadjusted deadline.
It also shows the price boundary relevant to a later home purchase by the owner or spouse.
Save the review as a TXT file and take it to the pension provider with the underlying documents.
The result is conditional on the facts entered and is not an approval of the transaction.
This page assesses item (c), the housing-difference route, under Income Tax Enforcement Decree Article 40-2.
Item (d), covering certain long-held property gains of basic-pension recipients, and any associated capital-gains tax credit require a separate assessment.
Previous deposits from both routes still count toward the shared lifetime cap.
All monetary inputs and outputs are KRW.
1. Check the person and the receiving account
Age on the transfer date
The owner or spouse must be aged 60 or older on the home transfer date.
Enter the age on that date, rather than today’s age.
Without a spouse, only the owner’s age applies.
Living with a parent or child does not turn that person into the spouse for this test.
The selling owner’s account
The route concerns a Korean resident selling a domestic home and depositing into that owner’s own pension account.
Article 40-2(2)2 also requires that contributions are not made after requesting pension commencement for that account.
Using a spouse’s age does not, by itself, permit using the spouse’s pension account.
The prefilled values and checked boxes are fictional examples; replace them with your actual facts.
Passing the age test alone is insufficient.
If you hold both an account already paying a pension and another account that has not commenced, ask the provider about the status of the specific receiving account.
2. Count the couple’s homes and assess an advance purchase
The ordinary rule is that the owner and spouse together own only the sold domestic home on the transfer date.
Enter the actual home count immediately before the transfer, including that home.
The same home jointly owned by spouses counts as one home, while two different homes remain two.
Do not import unrelated temporary multi-home exceptions from capital-gains tax rules.
Buying the replacement first
The statutory exception concerns selling the old home within six months after acquiring the replacement.
This calculator applies it only when there are two homes and the additional home is that replacement.
For example, acquisition on 2026-04-30 and sale on 2026-10-30 fall on the boundary.
An acquisition on 2026-04-29 is too early for the same sale date.
The exception does not automatically cover three or more homes.
A replacement bought by the spouse is included.
Joint ownership or partial-share sales and purchases require the ownership and whole-home valuation rules in Article 40-2(11)–(12).
Uncheck the sole-ownership confirmation for those cases; the tool withholds assessed deposit amounts.
Any displayed arithmetic housing difference is then a reference only, not a joint owner’s assessed deposit limit.
3. Keep official value separate from actual prices
- Sale price: the actual value of the transferred home.
It is the starting point for the statutory difference, not the bank balance remaining after repaying a mortgage. - Whole-home official value: the Income Tax Act official value on the transfer date.
The KRW 1.2 billion cap applies to this value; a sale price above that amount does not by itself fail this test. - Replacement purchase price: the actual value of the replacement acquired by the owner or spouse.
When a replacement is acquired, its price must be strictly below the sold-home price.
Equal prices fail the downsizing price condition.
If you move into rented accommodation without acquiring a replacement, select no purchase.
The formula then uses a replacement acquisition price of zero.
That does not mean rental deposits, brokerage, moving costs, taxes and debt repayments are available to invest.
Reserve those amounts separately when deciding how much of the legal capacity to use.
4. Apply the shared cap and the remaining sale difference
Remaining lifetime capacity
KRW 100 million − all previous item (c)/(d) deposits
Multiple pension accounts do not multiply this resident’s cap.
Include earlier property-route deposits and earlier special deposits from this sale.
Changing provider or entering a new calendar year does not reset the cumulative amount.
Remaining amount from this sale
Housing difference − this sale’s earlier deposits
Do not include the new requested deposit in the prior cumulative amount.
Deduct this sale’s earlier deposits from its difference to avoid using the same proceeds twice.
The smaller of the two capacities determines the additional limit.
The housing difference is the sale price minus the replacement purchase price, floored at zero.
For a qualifying transaction, the additional limit is the smaller of the remaining lifetime capacity and this sale’s remaining difference.
The planned new deposit is the smaller of the requested amount and that limit.
The result also shows any request above the limit.
Once prior special deposits reach KRW 100 million, new capacity is zero even if all other conditions are met.
5. Six months from sale; five years from deposit
Deposit window
Deposit within six months after the legal home transfer date.
The calculator adds six calendar months and includes the displayed boundary date in its comparison.
For sale on 2026-10-30, the unadjusted deadline is 2027-04-30.
A signed contract date may differ from the legal transfer date, so verify the correct event date.
Later-purchase monitoring
The five years start on the housing-difference deposit date.
For a deposit on 2026-11-20, the boundary is 2031-11-20 and the following day is 2031-11-21.
The model conservatively includes the anniversary date within the monitored interval.
Check the actual start date for each earlier instalment separately.
Period calculations exclude the event day under Framework Act on National Taxes Article 4 and Civil Act Articles 157 and 160.
For acquisition on 2026-04-30, the six-month unadjusted end date is 2026-10-31.
Where the final month has no corresponding day, month end applies: sale on 2028-08-31 gives a six-month boundary of 2029-02-28.
The tool does not extend dates for bank holidays, closing times, application review or processing delays.
Confirm when the provider must actually receive and recognize the deposit.
Scheduling a transfer on the last day is not evidence that the recognized deposit date will be within the window.
6. Check the price boundary before buying another home
If the owner or spouse acquires a home within five years after the deposit, and the old sale price minus that new acquisition price is smaller than the pension deposit, the special contribution can be excluded.
The later home does not have to cost more than the originally sold home for this to matter.
Even a cheaper home can cross the relevant boundary after a pension deposit.
Example: KRW 800 million sale and KRW 100 million deposit
The purchase-price boundary is KRW 800 million − KRW 100 million = KRW 700 million.
A price exactly equal to KRW 700 million does not meet the statutory ‘smaller than’ comparison in this model.
KRW 1 above that boundary triggers the risk scenario.
This is a contribution-rule boundary, not a recommended purchase budget or an available loan amount.
Article 40-2(8)–(10) provides for exclusion of the full affected special contribution, return with investment gains and treatment as a non-pension withdrawal when the relevant facts are established.
Do not assume that only the excess difference would be returned.
Show the provider both the contribution history and the planned new transaction before entering a purchase commitment.
7. Worked deposit-limit examples
| Example | Difference KRW | Prior total / this sale KRW | Additional limit KRW |
|---|---|---|---|
| 800m sale → 500m replacement | 300,000,000 | 0 / 0 | 100,000,000 |
| Partly deposited already | 50,000,000 | 80,000,000 / 20,000,000 | 20,000,000 |
| Shared cap already used | 300,000,000 | 100,000,000 / 0 | 0 |
In the second example, the remaining sale difference is KRW 50 million − KRW 20 million = KRW 30 million.
Remaining lifetime capacity is only KRW 100 million − KRW 80 million = KRW 20 million, so the new limit is KRW 20 million.
Having enough sale proceeds does not permit choosing the larger capacity.
These examples assume qualifying full transactions under sole ownership.
8. Read the after-tax comparison as a model
The bank route reinvests annual interest after a 15.4% assumed interest tax.
The pension route compounds before tax and applies the selected rate once to positive investment gains at the comparison date.
Principal is assumed to have received no contribution tax credit, and no annual credit refund is added.
The pension value is not an assessment of final tax or an amount proven available for immediate withdrawal.
KRW 100 million · 3% · one year · 5.5% gains tax
The bank model gives KRW 102,538,000 and the pension model gives KRW 102,835,000: a difference of KRW 297,000.
At a zero return, the two models give the same principal and no difference.
The default 3% return and ten-year period are illustrations, not guaranteed rates or forecasts.
Age-based reference withholding assumptions, including local tax, are 5.5% below age 70, 4.4% at ages 70–79 and 3.3% from age 80.
A 16.5% scenario is also available; the tool does not decide your actual tax rate.
Annual private-pension income, withdrawal limits, account tenure, credit history, comprehensive financial-income taxation and foreign withholding can change actual results.
Verify pension-receipt conditions separately, including commencement after age 55 and normally five years since account opening.
Passing this deposit test does not establish qualified pension withdrawal treatment.
9. From inputs to provider confirmation
- Check age and the couple’s home count on the transfer date, residency and the receiving account’s commencement status.
For joint ownership or partial shares, leave the amount on review status. - Use the sale and replacement contracts to confirm actual prices and legal transfer/acquisition dates.
Obtain official value separately.
A purchase planned after the deposit belongs in the later-purchase scenario, not the already-acquired replacement field. - Combine all providers’ special-deposit records, then identify the portion already contributed from this sale.
For the first special contribution, both prior amounts are zero. - Enter an affordable new deposit after reserving living, moving and tax costs.
Calculate and inspect failed conditions and any requested amount above the limit. - Review later home-purchase plans and the comparison assumptions, then download the TXT review.
Prepare the contracts, special-deposit application and one-home confirmation; ask the provider about acceptable amounts, documents and processing dates.
If you plan several instalments, consider the deadline and cash needs for each.
Changing an input removes the previous result, so calculate again after editing.
The saved review records dates, amounts and comparison assumptions to support a discussion with family and the provider.
10. Frequently asked questions
Can everyone deposit an extra KRW 100 million after selling a home?
No.
Check age on the transfer date, Korean tax residency, the couple’s domestic home count, the whole-home official value, replacement price, deposit deadline and account conditions.
Even after passing those tests, the actual housing difference and previous special deposits can reduce the available amount.
Start with any failed condition in the result.
Does it qualify if I am 59 and only my spouse is 60?
The age condition is met if the owner or spouse is at least 60 on the sale date.
This does not allow unrestricted transfers into the spouse’s pension account.
The special deposit must go into the selling home owner’s own account, and the account must meet the pension-commencement condition.
Is KRW 1.2 billion the maximum sale price?
The cap applies to the official value of the whole home on the transfer date, not the actual sale price.
Do not reduce that official value by your ownership share to pass the test.
Joint ownership requires a separate review of shares and whole-home values.
Can I buy the replacement first, or move without buying?
An advance purchase can fall within the exception if the old home is transferred within six months after acquiring the replacement.
If no replacement is acquired, its price is zero in the housing-difference formula.
Rental deposits and debt repayments are not automatically deducted from the statutory difference, but they still matter for the cash you need to retain.
Do deposits under the basic-pension property route use the same cap?
Yes.
Article 40-2(2)1 combines cumulative deposits under the housing-difference route in item (c) and the property-gain route in item (d), subject to one KRW 100 million cap for the resident.
A new account or a new calendar year does not reset it.
Combine records from every provider.
Do the five years start on the home sale date?
They start on the date the housing difference is deposited into the pension account.
For multiple instalments, verify the actual date of each deposit.
This calculator displays the clock for the one entered deposit date and does not replace the clocks of earlier deposits.
Do not assume that only an excess difference would be returned after a breach.
Does the extra KRW 100 million receive a full annual tax credit?
The special deposit ceiling and the annual pension contribution tax-credit ceiling are different.
This calculator adds no annual tax-credit refund and assumes the comparison principal has received no contribution credit.
If credited principal is mixed into the account, ask the provider to verify withdrawal order and the contribution-credit record.
Should I deposit everything if the pension model is larger?
The difference uses an assumed common return and selected gains tax rate.
It does not resolve pension withdrawal limits, account tenure, actual withdrawal age, other private pension income, comprehensive financial-income taxation, fees or liquidity needs.
Reserve living, moving and tax costs, then confirm the special-deposit process with the provider.
11. Official sources and the next action
Rules, effective dates and verified scope
- Income Tax Enforcement Decree Article 40-2 (소득세법 시행령): paragraph (2)1 items (c)/(d) and the shared cap, paragraph (2)2 account commencement, and paragraphs (7)–(12) application, exclusion, return and ownership rules.
Current version effective 2026-10-01, Presidential Decree No. 36737, API MST290841. - Income Tax Enforcement Rule Article 16-2: application Form 3-3, one-home confirmation Form 3-4 and conversion from share price to whole-home value.
Current version effective 2026-07-01, API MST286379. - Income Tax Act Article 59-3 and Article 129: annual contribution credits and reference interest/pension withholding rules.
API MST280405, current version effective 2026-07-01; relevant articles effective 2026-01-01.
Current National Law Information OPEN API texts and the National Tax Service guidance were cross-checked on 2026-10-30.
Period rules were verified in Framework Act on National Taxes Article 4 (effective 2026-10-02, MST289999) and Civil Act Articles 157 and 160 (effective 2026-03-17, MST284415).
Transactions from 2027 onward assume these rules continue and need a fresh check before acting.
Personal records are needed to determine ownership shares, included homes, legal event dates, credited principal and withdrawal order.
Take contracts and registration records for review if a condition is unclear.
Confirm both the limit and the processing date
Save the additional limit, unadjusted deadline and later-purchase boundary, then confirm the actual procedure with the provider.
Use the related calculators to separately review annual pension contribution credits and withdrawal taxation.
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