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 calculated 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 refund consumption tax to people who consume 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 then keep a handling fee from it, and that 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 — for example, 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 just discount it? (즉시환급)
Often, yes. For a payment of ₩15,000 to just under ₩1,000,000, many Tax-Free stores charge you the discounted price on the spot — show your passport before paying and the refund comes off the bill. There’s a ceiling: ₩5,000,000 of these purchases per trip.
Why is that? It’s the same refund, paid early — so the operator’s handling fee generally still applies (expect the chart amount off your bill, not a flat 10%). Your passport is required at the till, and the ₩5,000,000 per-trip cap applies across 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 airside.
Why is that? The refund legally depends on proof the goods left Korea unopened and unused — that’s 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 — but 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 departure (the validation window is about 3–4 weeks from the refund, depending on the operator) and the held amount is charged to your card. 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. And 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 promising otherwise. (Hotel-stay VAT refunds are a separate scheme with its own rules and timeline, not part of shopping refunds.)
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 — and hotel stays are a separate scheme entirely, 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.