Tax Refund in Korea: How to Get Money Back When You Shop

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Here are the details on the Tax Refund in Korea: who can get it, which conditions apply and which three options you have for the refund. All information comes from VISITKOREA. ━━━━━━━━━━ 🧳 Who can get a Tax Refund? Non-Koreans who are in Korea for less than six months can get a Tax Refund. If you live in the country longer, this offer doesn't apply to you. 👉 For you: If you live in Korea longer, the Tax Refund doesn't apply to you. ━━━━━━━━━━ ✅ These are the conditions you must meet You must spend at least ₩15,000 (≈ $11) per receipt. This has to be in a shop with a "Tax Refund" or "Tax Free" sign. The goods must be new, unopened and unused. You must also leave Korea within three months of buying them. 👉 For you: When you shop, look for the "Tax Refund" or "Tax Free" sign and make sure the goods are new, unopened and unused. ━━━━━━━━━━ 🛍️ Option 1: Right at the checkout With this option, you show your passport when you pay. This works for purchases from ₩15,000 (≈ $11) and under ₩1,000,000 (≈ $749) per payment. In total, up to ₩5,000,000 (≈ $3,745) per trip is possible. 👉 For you: Take your passport with you when you shop if you want to use the refund right at the checkout. ━━━━━━━━━━ ✈️ Option 2: At the airport or port At the airport or port, there is no purchase limit. You get the refund after security at a counter or kiosk. At the airport, you show your goods and receipts to customs before check-in and get the "Customs Export Approval" stamp. 👉 For you: If you leave from the airport, you need your goods and receipts ready for customs before check-in. ━━━━━━━━━━ 🏙️ Option 3: Counters in the city In the city, there are Tax Refund counters that refund receipts up to ₩6,000,000 (≈ $4,493). However, they only refund receipts from their own company. You need your passport, Tax Refund receipts and the goods. At a city counter, you also need an international credit card. When you leave, report this to customs at the airport. 👉 For you: Bring your passport, receipts, goods and an international credit card if you want to use a city counter. Don't forget to report to customs at the airport. ━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 Sources VISITKOREA – Duty Free & Tax Refunds https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/svc/contents/contentsView.do?vcontsId=140736 ━━━━━━━━━━ 💬 Have you ever used the Tax Refund in Korea? Which option worked best for you, and do you have any tips for others? 📲 On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lebeninkorea_en/ 📸 Photos: Marek Piwnicki, Marissa Lewis (Unsplash); sharonang, 8minwoo (Pixabay); Adli Wahid (CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons), Abasaa (Public domain, Wikimedia Commons), Kanchi1979 (CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons); Cultural Heritage Administration (KOGL Type 1)