How to make money as a college student from home in Korea, and the dates that follow from the year you earn to the next spring

2026-10-15

5,000,000 won. If a college student in Korea received only wages (employment income) during the year, total pay at or below this amount meets the dependent income test in the parents' year-end tax settlement. That is the line the National Tax Service help center gives.

Most articles and videos on how to make money as a college student from home are about what to do for the money. This one looks at what happens after the money comes in.

We lay out, in date order, what the student and the parents check from the year the money is earned to May of the next year. The rules here are Korean ones.

1.The year you earn: write down what each payment is called

The same 500,000 won leads to different dates depending on how it was paid. Paid like a salary, it is employment income. Paid with 3.3% taken off, it is usually treated as business income.

3.3%: 3% business income tax plus 0.3% local income tax, withheld in advance and settled in the next May return.

Each time money arrives, keep one line: date, payer, amount and tax withheld. Every date below uses the yearly total of this record. How taxes differ by income type is covered in our side job comparison for office workers.

If the student is listed as a dependent on a family member's health insurance, there is one more line to watch, apart from the tax dates.

!Unregistered business income above 5,000,000 won a year ends the health insurance dependent status.

The NHIS says that even without a report, once it confirms this, dependent status ends on the last day of the month the income arose (NHIS loss of dependent status). Total income of 20 million won or less a year is also required (NHIS dependent criteria).

2.January and February of the next year: deciding on the parents' settlement

Employers run the year-end settlement when they pay February wages of the next year (Income Tax Act article 137). Whether parents list a college-age child on the deduction forms is settled then.

Age comes first. The basic deduction for a child applies only up to age 20 (Income Tax Act article 50). So for a child over twenty, what mainly remains is the education expense tax credit.

The NTS help center says that for the education credit, a dependent has "no age requirement, only the income requirement". It gives a 25-year-old child's university tuition as a deductible example (education credit Q&A).

The child's earnings still have to pass the income test.

University tuition counts up to 9,000,000 won per student a year, and 15% of what is paid comes off the tax. Graduate school tuition does not count for parents (NTS education tax credit).

At the full limit that is 9,000,000 won x 15% = 1,350,000 won (our arithmetic). Lower tuition means a smaller credit.

The income test depends on the kind of money received.

• Wages only: total pay of 5,000,000 won or less for the year
• Other income only: total income amount of 1,000,000 won or less
• Both: once total pay passes 3,333,333 won, the employment income amount alone is over 1,000,000 won

Business income amount is gross receipts minus necessary expenses (Income Tax Act article 19). For money paid with 3.3% withheld, the income amount is not yet fixed in February. The number appears only after the student files in May.

So there are two choices in January and February.

If it is clearly under the line, include the child. If unsure, leave the child out, finish the settlement and add the credit after seeing the May figure. Including the child and then turning out to be over the line cancels the credit and the unpaid tax has to be paid, so leaving it out is easier to undo.

3.May 1 to 31 of the next year: the month a student with 3.3% withheld files

With business income, the comprehensive income tax return is filed from May 1 to May 31 of the next year (Income Tax Act article 70). The NTS says that without filing on time, no refund is paid (NTS filing guide).

Once filed, the income amount is a number. If it is 1,000,000 won or less (income test Q&A), the parents can add the education credit they left out in February through a claim for correction.

A claim for correction can be made within five years after the statutory filing deadline (Framework Act on National Taxes article 45-2). The May return becomes the basis for fixing the parents' February choice.

4.Each semester: the same money goes into the National Scholarship income check

The National Scholarship support bracket is set by checking the income and assets of the student and the parents (or spouse) (KOSAF support bracket guide). What the student earned is part of that check.

A fixed amount is taken off the student's own wages in the calculation. The amount differs between KOSAF pages, so checking the method for the semester being applied for is the reliable route.

KOSAF says the domestic income and asset check takes about 8 weeks. To get a bracket before the tuition bill, the application has to go in early.

5.One line

Writing down what each payment is called and how much it was, all year, lets the same total serve the February parents' settlement, the May return and each semester's scholarship check.

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