Tax refund is a fantastic benefit if you are an international tourist in South Korea and visiting on a short-term tourist visa. This system allows you to claim your tax returns on hotel stays, shopping, and much more if you know the details of how to apply and if you are eligible. The returns can be claimed only from selected hotels and businesses, so if you are well-read in advance about the details, you can save a lot of your travel budget and get it back!
If this is your first time shopping in Korea, you might not understand the difference between duty-free and tax-free shopping or how to file a tax return. So, without further ado, let’s get into our detailed guide to what makes your shopping eligible for tax refunds and how you can file for a tax refund as an international tourist in Korea.
Korea’s Tax Free System
Tax Refund
Only the individual consumption tax and the value-added tax are exempt. (Customs duties, tobacco consumption taxes, and alcohol taxes are not included.) It is a mechanism that reimburses VAT for purchases that exceed a set threshold. You can typically get a tax refund by presenting the receipt (refund slip) at the tax refund booth after you leave.
Immediate Tax Refund
When they make purchases at a verified tax-free retailer, tourists can quickly and easily receive a tax-free refund up to a certain amount.
How to Get Tax Refund at the Airport in South Korea?
1) Tax refund preparations
- Before departing, you must make purchases at the Tax-Free Store, show the staff members your passport, and ask for a tax refund form or slip.
- Please maintain the passport, the tax refund form, the receipt, and the things you purchased (whether opened or unused) until you depart.
- Travelers are urged to arrive early in case the airport is busy
2) Registration and bag storage
Obtain a boarding pass and check in at the airline counter. The things for which you are requesting a VAT refund and the necessary paperwork must be with you at all times, not in checked luggage.
If you want to check in things as checked baggage, please let the airline employees know at check-in if there are any items in your checked luggage that are entitled to a VAT refund. The customs inspection station has a spot where you can leave your luggage.
3) Use the self-refund machine to skip the queue at the airport terminal (if your refund amount is within 75,000 KRW)
- You can choose your language at the kiosk, scan your passport, and obtain your refund slip.
- Check to see if customs need to inspect the item. After the security check, you can collect cash if a customs check is not necessary. General-use Kiosks can only scan receipts. After a security check, refunds can only be picked up at duty-free kiosk machines or refund counters.
- Situations in which you will be subject to a customs inspection at the self-refund machine
- The kiosk is typically used to handle refunds, but occasionally, depending on the circumstances or if you are randomly chosen, you might have to go through a customs examination.
- Present your passport, any necessary materials, the receipt, and the Tax Refund Form at the customs declaration counter if you are chosen for inspection.
4) Tax Refund after airport customs inspection in South Korea(if the refund amount exceeds 75,000 KRW)
Bring your passport, receipts for your purchases (both opened and unused), and the paperwork related to your VAT refund to the customs counter, where an official will verify them all before stamping the VAT refund paperwork with an export confirmation stamp.
You can go to the VAT refund counter, present the VAT refund document bearing the stamp of the customs confirmation, and pick up your money right away. Please mail the necessary paperwork to the refund mailbox after receiving the customs confirmation stamp if you arrive outside the refund window’s hours of operation. The reimbursement will eventually be applied to your money order.
How to Get Tax Refunds in the City?
City refunds are mostly available in popular tourist destinations and demand a credit card as security. If you paid in cash, you could get a cash refund immediately, but the credit card will be temporarily used to cover the tax refund amount. Do not be concerned; it is a tax refund guarantee and will be automatically refunded after verification.
- You will get a reimbursement slip following your purchase of the item at the tax-free retailer (it is the same thing as a refund document).
- Bring your passport, refund slip, and credit card to collect refunds.
- For Global Tax-Free, only refund slips with a purchase amount of at least 30,000 KRW and less than 5 MKRW are eligible for a refund.
- At the airport, you must show proof of a tax refund. (When leaving the country, show customs officials the purchased items, refund paperwork, and passport for verification.)
- Your tax refund needs to be guaranteed by a credit card.
- Within three weeks of obtaining your tax refund, you must depart from Korea.
- Once more, the amount paid will only be repaid upon successful verification.
- Keep the proof of your tax refund. Present it at the airport and take care of it.
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