Korea's four social insurances: 2026 rates and employer filing deadlines

If you employ even one person in Korea, the business and the worker must join the four social insurances (4대보험): National Pension, National Health Insurance, Employment Insurance (EI) and Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance. This guide sets out the 2026 rates, who pays each share and the deadline for each report. Rates change every year, so always check which year a figure applies to.

The four insurances and who runs them

Each insurance has its own law and agency. The National Health Insurance Service (국민건강보험공단, NHIS) sends the bills and collects the premiums for all four, so employers pay through one channel.

Who must join

• National Pension: every workplace with one or more workers. Workers aged 18 to 59 join.
• Health insurance: all workers and employers at every workplace.
• Employment and accident insurance: every business that uses workers, with a few exceptions such as household employment and small farms not run as a company.
• Owners: employers with fewer than 300 workers, and self-employed people with no workers, may insure themselves under accident insurance with COMWEL approval.

Some workers fall outside a particular insurance:

A contract called "freelance" does not settle the question. Korean courts look at the substance: whether the person works for wages under the employer's direction (Supreme Court, 2004Da29736, December 7, 2006). If so, the person is a worker and the insurances apply.

Foreign staff with foreigner registration join workplace health insurance like Korean staff. They also join the National Pension, unless their home country does not cover Koreans in its pension system (reciprocity) or a few other exceptions apply. Employment insurance depends on visa status: see Employment insurance for foreign employees by visa.

2026 premium rates and who pays

• Pension schedule: the rate rises 0.5 percentage points a year, to 10.0% in 2027 (5.0% each) and 13% from 2033. The 2025 amendment applies one schedule to all ages.
• Pension income band: premiums are charged on a "standard monthly income" (기준소득월액) of ₩400,000~₩6,370,000 until June 30, 2026, and ₩410,000~₩6,590,000 from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. So the monthly premium is ₩38,950~₩626,050 from July to December 2026 and ₩41,000~₩659,000 from January 2027, split in half.
• Health insurance: the 2027 rate stays at 7.19% (decided on September 8, 2026). Long-term care is charged as 0.9448% of pay, which equals about 13.14% of the health premium. The 2027 long-term care rate had not been confirmed when we checked.
• Training levy by size: 0.25% under 150 workers; 0.45% for priority support companies (우선지원대상기업) with 150 or more; 0.65% for 150~999 workers; 0.85% for 1,000 or more and for government. The employer's total EI share is 1.15%~1.75%.
• Priority support companies are set by industry and headcount: for example, up to 500 workers in manufacturing, 300 in construction or information and communications, 200 in wholesale and retail or hotels and restaurants, and 100 in other industries. SMEs under the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises also count.
• Accident insurance rates are set for 28 industry types each year. The 2026 average of 1.47% includes 0.06% for commuting accidents.
• Two small levies, paid by the employer with the accident premium: the wage claim guarantee levy (임금채권부담금), 0.09% of pay from January 1, 2026 (up from 0.06%), and the asbestos relief levy (석면피해구제분담금), 0.006% in 2026, which businesses with fewer than 20 regular workers do not pay (construction excepted).

Filing deadlines

• Coverage ends on the day after the last day of employment.
• One combined form, Form No. 2 (별지 제2호서식) of the Enforcement Rule of the Premium Collection Act, registers the workplace for all four insurances. The agencies check your business registration and corporate register themselves; you attach copies only if you do not consent.
• File online at the 4 Social Insurances Information Linkage Center (4대사회보험 정보연계센터, 4insure.or.kr), which handles all four insurances and has a premium calculator.

Payment, annual reports and penalties

• Payment: each month's premiums are due by the 10th of the following month. You can set up automatic debit.
• Late payment: for health insurance, the late charge (연체금) is 1/1,500 of the unpaid amount per day, up to 2%. After 30 days, 1/6,000 per day is added, up to 5% in total. After a final notice, the NHIS can seize assets under national tax collection rules (체납처분).
• Annual pay report: report last year's total pay by March 15 for employment and accident insurance, and by March 31 for health insurance (moved from March 10 by a September 2026 decree amendment). Simplified payment statements for wages already filed with the National Tax Service count as the health report unless they contain errors. Premiums are then settled.
• National Pension has no year-end settlement. The NPS resets each worker's standard monthly income every July, based on the previous year's pay.
• Pay changes during the year: the employer may ask the NHIS to change the pay base (mandatory for 100 or more workers). For the pension, a change needs the worker's consent and a gap above a set ratio.
• Income outside salary: when an employee's income other than salary (rent, interest, dividends, business income and so on) exceeds ₩20 million a year, an extra health premium is charged on the part above that threshold.
• Fines for missing or false reports: up to ₩500,000 (pension), ₩5 million (health insurance workplace report) and ₩3 million (employment and accident insurance reports, including the annual pay report).

Checklist

1. Budget the employer's share: about 9.97% of pay in 2026 for a company under 150 workers, plus accident insurance and the levies.
2. Register the workplace within 14 days of the first hire (pension by the 15th of the next month).
3. Report every join and leave on time.
4. Check exclusions for part-timers, day workers and older workers.
5. Pay premiums by the 10th of the following month.
6. File the annual pay report by March 15 (EI and accident) and March 31 (health).
7. For complex cases, ask a certified labor attorney (공인노무사) or a tax accountant (세무사).