Korea tourist tax refund: how to claim at Incheon, step by step

How much do you have to spend to get a tax refund in Korea?

A single purchase has to be over ₩15,000 to qualify for a refund.

The threshold is stated per purchase. This guide has no confirmed rule on combining separate receipts from the same shop, so if you are close to the line, ask the shop before you pay rather than assume.

In practice, that means asking for the refund paperwork at the till every time you buy something above the threshold.

What do you need to show when you shop tax-free?

Take your passport when you go shopping. The refund depends on paperwork the shop produces at the moment you pay, and that paperwork is tied to your passport. The airport lists what you need to have with you when you leave:

A purchase receipt and tax refund documents, issued at the time of purchase with your passport; these must be kept until departure.

Keep the receipt and the refund documents together, somewhere you will not throw them away with the shopping bags. Check at the counter that the shop has filled the documents in completely before you walk away. An incomplete form is one of the two reasons the airport gives for refusing a refund (see the section on rejected receipts below).

How long do you have to take the goods out of Korea?

Duty-free items must be taken out of the country within 3 months from the date of purchase for the refund.

The limit runs from the date of each purchase, so on a long stay the things you bought in your first week reach it first. This guide has no confirmed rule on what happens once the deadline has passed, so treat it as a cut-off.

Customs checks the goods themselves, not only the paper, and expects them in a particular state:

Required documents for checking the outbound shipment are: passport, certificate of sale of goods, and the purchased goods themselves, unopened and unused.

Unopened and unused is the condition to plan around. Leave boxes sealed and tags attached until the goods have been confirmed at the airport, even if it means packing around a bulky box.

Should tax-free purchases go in your checked bag or your cabin bag?

The airport describes two routes, and the choice decides what you do at check-in.

On the cabin-bag route, you carry the goods to the kiosk yourself instead of checking them in. Note that the airport asks you not to check in the refund documents either, so keep the receipts in your hand luggage.

The checked-bag route adds work before you drop the bag. You have to tell the airline at the counter, have the bag tagged for customs, reclaim it and take it to the kiosk. That is easy to forget in a busy check-in queue, and this guide has no confirmed fallback once an untagged bag has gone down the belt. If a large item has to go in the hold, raise it with the check-in agent before you hand over the bag.

On departure day the sequence looks like this:

1. At check-in, keep the tax-free goods and their documents in your cabin bag, or tell the airline if they are going in the hold.
2. Confirm the goods on a refund kiosk with your passport and documents, and go to the customs inspection team if you are selected for inspection.
3. Collect the refund at the refund window in the duty-free zone, after immigration, in cash or to your own credit card.

Where are the tax refund kiosks at Incheon Airport?

Both terminals have an automated kiosk and a staffed service desk airside, in the duty-free zone, which you reach after immigration.

Terminal 1 also lists tax refund points in the check-in hall on the third floor, each near a check-in counter:

• Tax Refund point near Check-In Counter B on 3F, Terminal 1 (24 hours).
• Tax Refund point near Check-In Counter D on 3F, Terminal 1 (24 hours).
• Tax Refund point near Check-In Counter J on 3F, Terminal 1 (24 hours).
• Tax Refund point near Check-In Counter L on 3F, Terminal 1 (24 hours).

The airport's listing does not say how the work is divided between these landside points and the airside kiosk. If your goods are going in the hold, or you are unsure which point applies to your receipts, stop at one of them before you drop your bag and ask.

Check which terminal your airline uses before you set off, so that you head for the right set of desks.

Will customs inspect your goods before the refund?

Not every shopper is inspected. At an airport with kiosks, such as Incheon, the kiosk does the confirming:

At airports with unmanned check-in kiosks, enter the passport and commodity sales confirmation on the kiosk (visit the customs inspection team if selected for inspection) to confirm outbound shipment.

If you are selected for inspection, you visit the customs inspection team, which will want your passport, the certificate of sale and the goods themselves, still unopened and unused. That is the practical reason to keep tax-free goods within reach rather than locked inside a suitcase. Goods in a checked bag follow their own route: the bag is tagged for customs inspection at check-in, as described in the section on bags above.

If you leave Korea from an airport without these kiosks, the route is different: At an airport without a check-in kiosk, visit the customs inspection team directly to confirm outbound shipment.

How is the tax refund paid: cash or card?

At the airport, the money comes at the end of the process:

The refund (such as VAT) is received at the refund window in the duty-free zone, after immigration check, once customs has confirmed the shipment of goods at the departure terminal.

At the kiosk you then choose how to receive it:

The kiosk processes the refund as cash by default; if the amount is large or you prefer not to receive cash, you can choose to have it credited to your own credit card instead.

Cash is the default. The airport offers the card option if the refund amount is large or if you would rather not receive cash, and the card has to be your own credit card. This guide has no confirmed timescale for how long a card credit takes to appear, so keep any paperwork the kiosk gives you until the refund shows on your statement.

What if the kiosk rejects your receipt?

The airport names two reasons a refund is refused:

A refund is refused if the documentation was not requested at purchase, or if it was filled out incompletely.

Both concern the refund documents, which is why asking for them and checking them at the till matters so much.

If a receipt is rejected anyway:

1. Take your passport, the receipt, whatever refund paperwork you have and the goods to the staffed service desk next to the kiosk. At Terminal 1 the desk hours are in the table above.
2. If the desk cannot resolve it, or it is closed, contact the helplines in the next section.
3. Keep every document until the problem is settled, even if you board without the refund.

Allow extra time on departure day if you have several receipts to process, so that a question at the desk does not leave you choosing between the refund and your flight.

Who do you call about a tax refund or customs question?

The National Tax Service line answers on weekdays only and closes for a lunch break, so call in the morning or mid-afternoon Korean time. For a problem you only notice after leaving the airport, the customs line covers both customs and refund enquiries.

What can you bring into Korea duty-free when you arrive?

This part applies on the way in, not the way out, and it is separate from the tax refund. Korea Customs sets these allowances for travellers entering the country:

• Personal effects: US$800 or less of the total taxable value of goods; for agricultural, livestock and fishery products, up to 5kg of each good and 40kg of their total quantity, and up to 100,000 Korean won of the price of all goods purchased overseas.
• Liquor: Apart from the personal effects allowance, up to 2L and US$400 total value of liquor is allowed duty-free.
• Cigarettes: 200 cigarette sticks are allowed duty-free in addition to the personal effects allowance.
• Perfume: 100ml of perfume is allowed duty-free in addition to the personal effects allowance.

Minors under 19 (based on year of birth) are not given the tax exemption for liquor and cigarettes.

If you are carrying more than the allowance, declaring it on arrival works in your favour:

Voluntarily declaring goods that exceed the tax exemption allowances earns a 30% reduction from the standard customs duty.

Leaving it undeclared costs more if customs finds it:

If non-declared goods are detected after the fact, an additional tax of 40% more than the regular tax applies, rising to 60% more if caught twice or more within 2 years.

Korea Customs publishes these limits on its English site; check them there again before a trip where you expect to be close to the line.