Everything About Korea's 3.3% Freelancer Withholding
Freelancers in Korea — contract developers, designers, instructors, platform workers — are paid after a 3.3% deduction: 3% income tax (Income Tax Act, Article 129) plus 0.3% local income tax (10% of the income tax). On a 1M KRW contract, 33,000 KRW is withheld and 967,000 KRW lands in your account. This calculator splits the two taxes and applies the practical 10-KRW truncation used in payroll.
If you have a target amount you must actually receive, use the reverse mode: gross = take-home ÷ 0.967. To net 5M KRW you must contract about 5.17M KRW, so build the 3.3% into your quotes or your real income shrinks.
Crucially, the 3.3% is not a final tax. It is a prepayment settled in the May comprehensive income tax return, where your actual tax is computed after expenses and deductions. If less tax is due than was withheld, you get a refund; high earners may owe more. Missing the May filing also means missing any refund.
Pro tip: the same money as employment income (4 major insurances withheld) versus freelance income (3.3% withheld) yields different take-home pay and very different social insurance coverage. Compare with the salary calculator for employee take-home pay, or the hourly wage calculator for part-time monthly pay including the weekly holiday allowance.