Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Porksta]

I work for a hagwon and was going through my paystubs and I noticed something. Not all of my income qualifies for pension. Here is a rundown of the types of income:

Flight to Korea (money was added in, and then deducted)
Unused Vacation
O/T Pay for Labor Day

For all of these I had income and health taxes taken out but did not receive any additional pension. I know for the most part pension is 4.5%, but once you hit a certain amount it becomes graduated. Is that what is going on here? Do these extra incomes keep me in the same pension bracket as without the income? Are these taxable incomes but not pension qualified? It just seems odd to me that income can be taxed but not also gain a pension benefit.

[Fallacy]

This probably belongs in the Pension Sticky thread. Check your past paystubs again. Do you notice the amounts deducted are consistent month-to-month for, say, six months straight? Or are they different amounts each time? Usually, the pension deduction is a % set against the base pay, then periodically the pension office will review your earnings to update their records. The result should then show up as an adjustment up or down accordingly. From the NPS website:

[Porksta]

Well just for the last two calendar years:
2014 - Jan-July I paid the same amount in pension contributions, despite getting extra for working on Labor Day.
2014 - Starting in August (matching up with the July adjustment) my pension contribution went down 16,000 a month despite the increase in pay.

2015 - My pension contribution stayed at this new value until this most recent paycheck where it went up 11,000 won. This despite earning extra money in February (unused vacation) where my health premium and income tax increased for the month.

[Fallacy]

I think we both know the answer. The income increase you refer to was not reported to the pension office by your employer for fiscal 2014, but was instead erroneously reported as a decrease prior to July 1. You want to get credit for the full match, so do the quick math, and if it looks wrong, then call or visit the pension office to recapture the missing income for past years.