The numbers, and where each is set
| Limit | Figure | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum per receipt, tax included | ₩15,000 | Enforcement Rule, Article 2(1) |
| Immediate refund, per receipt, tax included | under ₩1,000,000 | Decree, Article 6(2)1 |
| Immediate refund, in total since you entered Korea | ₩5,000,000 or less | Decree, Article 6(2)2 |
| Downtown advance-refund route, per receipt | ₩6,000,000 or less | Decree, Article 10-4 |
| Airport route, per trip | no published ceiling | — |
| Export deadline | 3 months from purchase | Decree, Article 6(1)1 |
| Customs validation after a downtown refund | 25 days from the refund | Global Tax Free's terms |
Three words in the statute matter. The immediate limit says less than ₩1,000,000, so a receipt of exactly ₩1,000,000 does not qualify. The ₩5,000,000 and ₩6,000,000 limits say up to and including, so those exact amounts are inside. And every figure is the tax-inclusive price on the tag, not a pre-tax subtotal. The ₩5,000,000 allowance attaches to an entry into Korea — not to a year and not to a passport — and if you ever fail to take refunded goods out within three months, immediate refund is switched off for your later purchases.
What changed on 1 January 2024, and why guides are wrong
| Before 1 January 2024 | Since | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum per receipt | ₩30,000 | ₩15,000 |
| Immediate, per receipt | under ₩500,000 | under ₩1,000,000 |
| Immediate, per visit | ₩2,500,000 | ₩5,000,000 |
| Electronic advance-refund route, per receipt | ₩5,000,000 | ₩6,000,000 |
The current tourism guidance agrees with these shopping thresholds. Older material can show lower limits. A published national limit does not establish which refund services a particular shop offers. Ask the shop about immediate-refund eligibility before paying; if it cannot provide that service, request a refund slip.
The other threshold: what you get back
The limits decide whether you qualify. A banded table decides how much you receive, and its bands determine the actual refund after fees. Korean prices include the tax, so the tax inside a price tag is 10/110 — about 9.1% — and the refund company then deducts a fee approved by the National Tax Service. Global Tax Free's full rate table:
| You spend (tax included) | You get back | Share of the tax recovered |
|---|---|---|
| ₩15,000 | ₩1,000 | 73% |
| ₩29,999 | ₩1,000 | 37% |
| ₩30,000 | ₩2,000 | 73% |
| ₩50,000 | ₩3,000 | 66% |
| ₩100,000 | ₩7,000 | 77% |
| ₩500,000 | ₩35,000 | 77% |
| ₩1,000,000 | ₩75,000 | 82% |
| ₩5,900,000 | ₩480,000 | 89% |
| ₩6,000,000 and over | 90% of the tax, rounded down | 90% |
Use the table for the operator printed on your receipt. Two things follow. The effective refund rate varies between bands, and can be much lower just below a band boundary. And it is banded, so a receipt just under a band edge pays badly: ₩29,999 and ₩30,000 differ by one won and by ₩1,000 of refund. How to arrange a basket around the edges is on “Splitting purchases to get a bigger tax refund”.
A worked trip
Consider a trip with ₩3,400,000 of shopping: a ₩1,400,000 camera, a ₩900,000 coat and eight cosmetics and clothing purchases averaging ₩137,500 each.
- The camera is over ₩1,000,000, so no immediate refund. It goes on a
slip; at ₩1,400,000 it is inside the ₩6,000,000 receipt limit, so it can be cashed downtown or at the airport — roughly ₩105,000 back.
- The coat at ₩900,000 qualifies for immediate refund, using ₩900,000 of the
₩5,000,000 allowance and taking about ₩65,000 off the price at the till.
- The eight small receipts total ₩1,100,000 and all qualify. The purchases receiving immediate refunds now total ₩2,000,000, within the cap.
- This example returns roughly ₩240,000 of the approximately ₩309,000 of tax included in the prices.
The ₩5,000,000 purchase ceiling applies to immediate refunds. If your purchases exceed it, ask about eligible later-refund procedures; do not treat it as a universal airport-refund ceiling.
