Tourist tax refund
Korea refunds the tax on tourist shopping, but not all of it, and only if you follow the steps. Here’s who qualifies, what really comes back, and how not to lose the refund at the airport.
Enter each receipt separately. The refund is worked out per receipt, and each one needs at least ₩15,000 at a single Tax-Free store.
| Eligible spending | 120,000 KRW |
| VAT inside your prices | 10,909 KRW |
| You get back (est.) | 7,000 KRW |
| Operator’s handling fee (est.) | 3,909 KRW |
| Refund rate on spend | 5.8% |
An estimate anchored to the refund chart published by Global Tax Free, one of the refund operators (as of Aug 25, 2026). Other operators’ charts differ slightly, and for amounts between chart rows the tool estimates the in-between value. Not advice, and nothing you enter is stored.
Who gets the refund?
Visitors staying in Korea under 6 months. If you’re a Korean national living abroad (재외국민), the bar is different: 2+ years abroad (or foreign permanent residency) and a current stay under 3 months. Long-term residents, people working in Korea, diplomats, and US military stationed here don’t qualify.
Why is that? The scheme exists to hand back VAT to people who will use the goods outside Korea. That’s also why the goods themselves have rules: each receipt needs at least ₩15,000 at one Tax-Free store, you show your passport at the register, and the items must leave Korea unopened and unused within 3 months of purchase.
How much actually comes back?
Between roughly 3% and 8% of the price, not the full 10%. Korean sticker prices already include 10% VAT, so the tax inside a price is price × 10/110, about 9%. Refund operators keep a handling fee out of that, and the fee bites hardest on small receipts.
Why is that? Refunds are paid through private operators (Global Blue, Global Tax Free, Easy Tax Refund, CubeRefund…), and the law lets them deduct approved handling costs. Each operator publishes a chart of refund amounts by purchase bracket. On one major operator’s current chart, a ₩29,999 receipt returns ₩1,000 (about 3%), a ₩100,000 receipt returns ₩7,000, and only purchases of ₩6,000,000+ reach about 8.2%.
Can the store take it off the bill? (immediate refund, 즉시환급)
Often, yes. For a payment of ₩15,000 to just under ₩1,000,000, many Tax-Free stores take the refund off at the register. Show your passport before you pay and the discount comes off the bill. There’s a ceiling: ₩5,000,000 of these purchases per trip.
Why is that? It’s the same refund, just paid early, so the operator’s handling fee generally still applies. Expect the chart amount off your bill, not a flat 10%. You need your passport at the till, and the ₩5,000,000 per-trip cap covers all your immediate-refund purchases. Receipts of ₩1,000,000 or more can’t be refunded at the register at all. Those go through the airport or a downtown booth.
The airport flow, in order
The one rule that saves your refund: don’t check the bag with your refund items in it until customs is done. Check in first, tell the airline the bag has refund goods, get the customs export approval, then drop the bag and collect your money after passport control.
Why is that? The refund legally depends on proof the goods left Korea unopened and unused. That proof is the customs export approval. Small refunds usually clear electronically at a self-service kiosk. Operator guides say a physical check of the goods is expected once a refund passes roughly ₩75,000, so keep those items reachable, not buried in checked luggage.
Can I get the money before the airport?
You can collect the refund in the city before you fly, at refund booths and kiosks in shopping areas. It’s an advance, not a gift: the operator holds about 110% of the amount on an international credit card until you complete the customs step at the airport.
Why is that? The operator is paying you before the goods have legally left Korea, so the card hold is its safety net. Miss the customs export approval before you leave and the held amount is charged to your card. You have about 3–4 weeks from the downtown refund to finish that customs step, depending on the operator. Downtown refunds also have their own per-slip range: ₩15,000 to ₩6,000,000.
What changed recently
Two changes matter for 2026 trips. Since January 1, 2024 the rules got friendlier: the minimum receipt dropped from ₩30,000 to ₩15,000, and register-refund limits doubled to under ₩1,000,000 per payment / ₩5,000,000 per trip. Since January 1, 2026, cosmetic and beauty medical procedures no longer get any VAT refund.
Why is that? The 2016–2025 special refund for foreign patients’ cosmetic procedures was allowed to expire at the end of 2025. Bills to bring it back are pending in the National Assembly, but as of now a 2026 procedure gets nothing back. Ignore clinics or blogs that promise otherwise.
Common terms
Questions visitors ask
Only within one payment at one store. The minimum applies per receipt. Two ₩8,000 receipts from different shops get nothing, but ₩16,000 rung up together at the same store qualifies.
The refund is for goods you take out of Korea unopened and unused within 3 months of purchase. Anything you eat, open, or use during the trip doesn’t qualify. Hotel stays run on a separate scheme, not part of shopping refunds.
Card payouts (including Alipay and WeChat) take roughly 1–2 months. Past that, contact the refund operator named on your slip and quote the slip number. Keep every slip and receipt until the money lands.