Check the income basis behind a Korean traffic-accident offer
Before comparing an insurer’s absence-loss or future lost-earnings offer, identify the income used in its calculation.
Business revenue, reported taxable income, bank receipts and earnings attributable to the injured person’s work can differ.
This calculator connects employment and evidence circumstances to income rules in Korean automobile insurance terms.
An injured person, spouse or adult child helping with a settlement can use it to organize the basis and supporting documents.
Korea-based 2026 rules · checked 2026-11-08
The reviewed source is Annex 15 of the Detailed Enforcement Rules for Insurance Supervision, effective 2026-09-10, containing the standard automobile insurance terms.
A result organizes a policy-based income review; it does not approve evidence or establish what an insurer or court must pay.
Confirm the actual contract wording, accident date and applicable income period.
Medical expenses, consolation damages, fault, disability and the final settlement total require separate review.
The policy daily wage averages two published occupations
The standard-term daily-labor wage is different from using only a construction ordinary-worker rate.
It averages the Construction Association of Korea’s construction ordinary-worker wage and the Korea Federation of SMEs’ manufacturing simple-labor wage.
The policy converts that daily average to a monthly amount using 25 days.
Check both occupation names and effective dates rather than combining unrelated or outdated figures.
Verified published inputs
Construction ordinary worker: KRW 172,698/day, effective 2026-09-01.
Manufacturing simple labor: KRW 95,767/day, effective 2026-07-01.
The manufacturing figure comes from the first-half 2026 survey published on 2026-06-30.
A survey period and its effective period are not necessarily the same.
Policy conversion
Daily = (172,698 + 95,767) ÷ 2 = KRW 134,232.5
Monthly = 134,232.5 × 25 = KRW 3,355,812.5
Intermediate calculations preserve fractional won; displayed currency is rounded to whole KRW.
For a different reference period, enter and verify the applicable published inputs.
The schedule does not automatically project future wage increases.
Separate regular salary from irregular remuneration
The salary basis uses remuneration for work after the relevant taxes.
Enter regular remuneration and its taxes for the preceding three months, then enter annual irregular remuneration and its taxes separately.
Bonuses paid less frequently than monthly belong in the annual input.
Reimbursements of actual expenses, such as reimbursed business travel costs, should not inflate remuneration.
Monthly salary formula
Monthly income = (three-month regular remuneration − its taxes) ÷ 3 + (annual irregular remuneration − its taxes) ÷ 12
Where seasonal remuneration requires a one-year review, normalize the inputs consistently to that basis.
New employment and a confirmed pay increase require review of the normally filed or paid tax documents supporting the relevant exception.
The ordinary documentary rule concerns filings or payments before the accident; a later informal confirmation is not automatically equivalent.
Business income separates revenue, expenses and personal contribution
A self-employed person’s total revenue is not automatically their recognized personal earnings.
Use the preceding annual income period, identify expenses and taxes, then apply labor contribution and investment share.
Labor contribution is capped at 85%.
That 85% limit acts at a different stage from the 85% absence-loss payment factor.
Verify the expense ratio and its tax-law applicability for the actual business.
Standard expense-ratio method
Annual basis = revenue − major expenses − revenue × standard expense ratio − taxes
Multiply by labor contribution and investment share, then divide by 12.
Where investment share cannot be proved, the reference share is 1 divided by the number of business partners.
Do not apply both a proved share and an estimated share to the same income.
Simple ratio or fully proved expenses
For an applicable simple expense ratio, distinguish that method so major expenses are not deducted again.
Where all expenses are proved, use those expenses instead of the ratio-based deduction.
Subtracting both fully proved expenses and a ratio allowance could count the same costs twice.
Daily-wage floor and continued operations
Review the policy daily-wage floor when the calculated business amount is lower.
The terms also apply a daily-wage rule where the business can continue without the victim.
A loss-making business does not create negative recognized earnings, while high revenue alone does not prove high personal labor income.
Other workers, rental-income living and technical occupations
Other earned income and rent
Other workers use proved income after relevant taxes, excluding interest and dividends from an earned-income combination.
For rental-income living, the future income basis follows the daily-wage rule.
Where another proved income exists, compare that income with the daily-wage amount and use the larger reference.
Rental living’s absence-loss treatment is separate from this future income basis.
A higher technical-occupation wage
A higher wage for the relevant occupation published by the designated statistical bodies can be reviewed under the technical-worker rule.
Objective evidence must show that the person worked in that occupation during the year before the accident.
Prepare qualifications, labor-payment confirmations and actual work records, and enter the appropriate monthly wage equivalent.
Possessing a certificate alone does not automatically establish entitlement to every occupational statistic.
Where tax-related documents cannot establish a salaried, business or other worker’s income, review the policy daily-wage basis.
Difficulty proving income is different from having no income.
Likewise, a low tax return does not by itself establish a higher court-recognized statistical income; actual earnings and their likelihood need evidence.
Multiple incomes use a sum or maximum depending on evidence
Identify the category and evidence status of the main job and any side income first.
Enter the additional source’s recognized net monthly amount after its applicable method, rather than raw revenue.
Do not repeat a bonus already included in salary or treat two documents for the same payment as two income streams.
Every source proved
Review the sum rule when two or more incomes are established through the relevant tax documents.
Two separately recognized monthly amounts of KRW 3 million and KRW 1 million give a combined reference of KRW 4 million.
The amounts must represent different income streams.
Mixed proof and the rental exception
When proved and difficult-to-prove incomes coexist, or several incomes are difficult to prove, use the largest amount recognized under the rules.
References of KRW 3 million and KRW 1 million are then not automatically added to KRW 4 million.
The rental-living rule similarly compares other proved income with the daily-wage basis rather than using the ordinary sum.
Absence loss pays 85% of the supported reduction
A worker must establish that injury-related absence actually reduced income, using tax documents or other objectively recognized materials.
Hospital admission alone does not prove a loss of the entire monthly income.
Absence days are actual days recognized within the treatment period in light of the injury; every outpatient visit is not automatically a lost working day.
Workers
Recognized daily reduction = smaller of monthly recognized income ÷ 30 and actual daily reduction
Absence loss = recognized daily reduction × absence days × 85%
Monthly income ÷ 30 is this tool’s monthly-to-daily conversion assumption.
The express policy formula is daily income reduction × absence days × 85%; reconcile the actual pay system and the insurer’s daily-rate basis separately.
With paid leave and no actual reduction, the absence-loss amount is zero.
Unconfirmed reduction evidence is a pending review, not proof that the amount is zero.
Household work
Absence loss = policy daily wage × absence days × 85%
The household-work route requires a household of at least two people, no economic activity, actual household work and supporting documents at the accident date.
Prepare resident-registration, income and household-work evidence.
This route directly uses the policy daily wage rather than dividing the monthly amount by 30 again.
Zero-income-loss categories and older workers
The absence rules treat unemployed people, students, pensioners and people living on interest or rent as having no income reduction.
A separately evidenced occupation should be reviewed through its working category.
A person beyond the applicable working-life age can still require review under the exception for documented actual reduction.
These are base amounts before fault, previous payments and insurance limits, not final payouts.
Organize future income into age and retirement bands
For someone born on February 29, this tool places the attained-age boundary on March 1 in a non-leap year.
This is a calendar interpretation derived from Civil Act Articles 158–160 on including the birth date, expiry at the end of the final day and a missing corresponding date.
Working-month and post-accident residence bands add calendar months and clamp a missing corresponding date to month-end; compare these reference intervals with the actual policy’s start and end dates.
Distinguish the birth date, accident date and the death or loss-of-working-capacity reference date.
The ordinary working-life age is 65; the terms provide an age-70 rule for objectively established farmers and fishers.
Check statutory, collective-agreement or other retirement rules and distinguish a daily-wage band after an earlier occupational retirement age.
The table for age 62 and over
- Age 62 to under 67 on the relevant reference date: 36 months
- Age 67 to under 76: 24 months
- Age 76 and over: 12 months
Within the table’s period, distinguish actual-income months before retirement from daily-wage months afterward.
Where the farmer/fisher age-70 provision or a separate retirement rule overlaps with the older-person table, confirm how the provisions apply in the actual claim.
One age input does not establish a final compensable period.
Minors, military service and band boundaries
The ordinary policy employment start is age 19, so an unemployed minor’s future employment band starts at 19.
An already working minor whose recognized income remains below the daily-wage reference after technical and multiple-income rules keeps an actual-income band from the loss reference date until 19, followed by the daily-wage basis.
If technical or combined recognized income reaches or exceeds that reference, turning 19 does not automatically reduce it to the daily-wage amount.
Military service or planned service is not automatically removed as an invented zero-income period.
A displayed band’s ending date is exclusive, and partial-month differences remain visible as calendar dates.
The band amounts are inputs for a future-loss calculation and should not simply be added together as total damages.
Foreign nationals may have domestic and home-country bands
Review domestic work, income proof, stay status and work authorization together.
The calculator does not approve immigration status; use actual permits and stay-period records.
Prepare home-country monthly income on a comparable period and KRW basis.
If that amount is not established, the affected future band requires further review.
Lawful temporary stay without work
A lawful temporary visitor who has not worked domestically uses the income basis of their home-country living base.
If the person actually worked during a temporary stay, check the separate category rather than keeping the nonworking visitor route.
Authorized work and other circumstances
For authorized workers, review domestic income during the remaining lawful stay, with a minimum domestic-reference period of three years from the accident where the remaining stay is shorter.
The entered stay-expiry date is the last valid permit day; when that period exceeds the three-year minimum, the home-country band starts the following day.
The other-circumstances rule also separates the first three years from the accident from the later home-country period.
The three-year starting point is the accident date, not a later loss-of-capacity date entered in the form.
Restarting three domestic-income years at a much later disability assessment could overstate the period.
For an accident on 2026-11-08, the three-year transition reference is 2029-11-08; compare it with the actual lawful-stay end date.
From inputs to an insurer recalculation request
- Check terms and dates: separate the contract wording, accident date and death or loss-of-capacity reference date, then confirm the applicable edition.
- Choose income and evidence: collect withholding certificates, payslips, tax returns, income certificates and revenue/expense records appropriate to the category.
- Review additional conditions: establish partnership shares, continued operations, technical work, multiple income, household work, farming/fishing and stay records.
- Check absence separately: reconcile treatment records, actual absence days and evidence of the daily income reduction.
- Compare the basis: check the insurer’s monthly income against the calculated reference, read pending reasons and supplement missing evidence before requesting recalculation.
Foreign nationals also need stay/work authorization and home-country income records; technical workers need evidence of the preceding year’s occupation.
When contacting an insurer, state whether each figure is before or after tax and annual or monthly, rather than sending only a result number.
A family member collecting records should use the actual victim’s income and household facts.
Worked examples separate income from the absence payment
KRW 3.8 million salary and KRW 100,000 actual daily reduction
Three-month remuneration of KRW 12 million less KRW 900,000 tax gives KRW 3.7 million per month.
Annual irregular remuneration of KRW 1.2 million with no related tax adds KRW 100,000 monthly, producing KRW 3,800,000.
If actual daily reduction is KRW 100,000, below monthly income ÷ 30, and absence is 20 days, the base absence payment is 100,000 × 20 × 85% = KRW 1,700,000.
Business contribution example
Revenue of KRW 120 million less KRW 20 million major expenses, a 20% standard ratio and KRW 4 million tax gives an annual basis of KRW 72 million.
With 85% labor contribution and 100% investment share, dividing by 12 gives KRW 5,100,000 monthly.
If investment cannot be proved and there are two partners, recompute using a one-half share and then compare with the daily-wage floor.
Hypothetical household check versus published wages
For a test-only construction wage of KRW 200,000 and manufacturing wage of KRW 100,000, the daily average is KRW 150,000 and the monthly reference is KRW 3,750,000.
Twenty supported household-work absence days then give 150,000 × 20 × 85% = KRW 2,550,000.
Those two test wages are not published 2026 defaults.
Using the verified daily default of KRW 134,232.5 for the same conditions gives KRW 2,281,952.5, displayed as KRW 2,281,953.
Discarding fractional won earlier can change that displayed result.
Interpret income differences, zero and pending results
An income difference is not additional insurance money
The difference from the insurer’s entered monthly income compares income bases.
It is not an immediately collectible extra payment.
Recognized absence, actual reduction, disability, fault and limits can change the final amount.
Unconfirmed evidence is different from zero
A student with no absence-related reduction differs from a worker whose reduction evidence has not been confirmed.
Read the former as a zero under that absence rule and the latter as a pending evidence review.
If the edition is unconfirmed or the accident predates 2026-09-10, reconcile the historical terms first.
Policy estimates and court assessment have different boundaries
Supreme Court decision 2015Da23024, dated 2016-06-28, reviewed proof of actual earnings or a substantial likelihood of those earnings when considering lost income above reported income.
A low tax return alone does not establish the full claimed statistical wage.
The reviewed standard terms specify the Hoffman method, monthly 5/12% simple-interest discounting and a coefficient-sum cap of 240.
This calculator does not calculate that present-value total or substitute a Leibniz coefficient.
Review the assessment basis as well as income evidence when comparing insurance and litigation.
Frequently asked questions
Does high business revenue mean equally high recognized earnings?
Separate expenses, taxes, labor contribution and investment share from revenue.
Avoid deducting both proved expenses and ratio expenses, and review continued operations and the daily-wage rule.
Why use 25 days for monthly wages but divide by 30 for absence?
The 25-day rule converts the policy daily-labor wage into a monthly reference.
Dividing a worker’s monthly amount by 30 is this tool’s daily-rate assumption and requires reconciliation with actual payroll and the insurer’s basis.
Household absence directly uses the daily policy wage.
Can a full-time homemaker review absence loss?
The household-work route requires at least two household members, no economic activity and documented household work at the accident date.
Living alone or merely having no salary does not establish those conditions.
Does a student also have zero future income?
Absence reduction and the future lost-earnings income basis differ.
A student’s absence rule may show no reduction while future income still requires review of daily wages and the age-19 employment start.
Are two declared income streams always added?
Review the sum rule when both are independently established through the relevant tax documents.
A difficult-to-prove source or the rental-living rule can instead require a maximum comparison.
Does everything become zero after age 65?
Future periods require review of the age-62-plus table, farming/fishing and retirement rules.
Documented actual reduction can also matter for older workers’ absence-loss exception, so age alone does not settle every amount.
Does a foreign national’s three-year period start at disability assessment?
The relevant three-year rule starts at the accident.
An authorized worker’s longer remaining lawful stay requires separate comparison, and home-country evidence is needed for the later band.
Is this enough to sign a settlement?
The result organizes an income basis and evidence checks.
Review the settlement’s scope, treatment, disability, fault, previous payments and policy/court assessment rules together before deciding.
Official sources and the next review step
Checked 2026-11-08 · currency KRW
Recheck amendments, both institutions’ subsequent wage publications, the accident’s applicable period and individual evidence.
The manufacturing data used here precedes the next publication scheduled for 2026-11-30; unpublished future values were not inserted.
Review the income basis before comparing the whole claim
Compare the insurer’s basis with the formula and documents, then request recalculation with missing evidence supplied.
The reviewed monthly income can help check inputs in the traffic-accident compensation calculator and traffic-accident disability calculator.
Check each tool’s policy or court assumptions and day counts separately, and decide on a settlement only after reviewing its full terms.