Self-employed doctors earn over W400m, 3.8 times more than lawyers

The average annual business income of self-employed doctors surged more than 50 percent over seven years to exceed 400 million won ($304,000), reaching 1.8 times that of dentists and 3.8 times that of lawyers, according to newly released tax data.

However, the median income among doctors — the midpoint when all incomes are ranked — stood at 264 million won, a gap of 138 million won below the average, suggesting that top earners are pulling the mean upward.

The figures come from a National Tax Service report on comprehensive income tax filings by professional occupation, submitted to Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Moon Jin-seog of the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee on Tuesday. The data show that doctors' average business income for the 2024 tax year reached 402 million won per person.

That marks an increase of 139 million won, or 52.9 percent, from 263 million won in 2017.

The statistics cover business income reported by self-employed individuals in each professional category. Business income is pre-tax income calculated by subtracting necessary expenses — such as labor costs and rent — from total revenue.

Salaried employees, including doctors on hospital payrolls, and income earned through corporations are excluded, meaning the figures do not represent the average income of all professionals in a given field. In this dataset, "doctors" refers to those practicing in internal medicine, surgery, dermatology and similar specialties; dentists and traditional Korean medicine practitioners, which are tracked separately, are not included.

Breaking down the trend by year, doctors' average business income rose from 263 million won in 2017 to 291 million won in 2018 and 323 million won in 2019.

It dipped to 300 million won in 2020 before climbing to 354 million won in 2021 and 398 million won in 2022. Income then fell to 378 million won in 2023 before rebounding to 402 million won in 2024 — an increase of 24 million won, or 6.3 percent, from the previous year.

The number of doctors filing business income returns grew 17.7 percent, from 37,140 in 2017 to 43,718 in 2024. Their combined reported business income rose 79.9 percent over the same period, from 9.76 trillion won to 17.56 trillion won.

Among the 14 professional categories surveyed for 2024, doctors recorded the highest average business income.

Dentists came in second at 222 million won. Accountants averaged 122 million won, traditional Korean medicine practitioners 119 million won, lawyers 106 million won, and pharmacists and herbal pharmacists 101 million won.

Veterinarians averaged 99 million won, tax accountants 82 million won, patent attorneys 80 million won, and customs brokers 60 million won. Certified appraisers averaged 39 million won, judicial scriveners 32 million won, architects 30 million won, and labor attorneys 25 million won.

"As income trends diverge across professions, the National Tax Service should carefully tailor its filing guidance and support systems to keep pace with those changes," Moon said.

Meanwhile, the statistics count individuals based on whether they filed business income as a self-employed person, not on their institutional affiliation.

Lawyers who belong to a law firm but handle their taxes as self-employed individuals are included, as are doctors and accountants who operate private offices under the same arrangement. Those who receive only a salary and file year-end tax adjustments through their employer are excluded. The same criteria apply across all other professional categories covered by the data.