Korea Tax Refund Calculator (2026): How Much You’ll Get Back on Every Receipt

Last updated: November 1, 2026

A 29,999-won receipt and a 15,000-won receipt get exactly the same tax refund in Korea: 1,000 won. One more won on the first receipt, and the refund doubles. That’s how the refund tables work, and it’s why I built this Korea tax refund calculator instead of just telling people “you get about 7% back.”

Type in what you paid on each receipt, and the calculator shows your refund in won and dollars, whether that receipt can be refunded at the register, and when a little more spending would push you into the next bracket. Below it, I explain how much tax refund in Korea you can realistically expect and where the numbers come from.

Quick Answer: How the Korea Tax Refund Calculator Works

• It uses a real refund table, not a flat percentage: Global Tax Free’s published table, which has 80 price brackets from 15,000 won to 5,999,999 won.
• Most receipts get 5% to 8% back. The lowest rate is about 3.3% (a 29,999-won receipt). The highest is about 8.2%, on purchases of 6,000,000 won or more.
• Under 15,000 won on one receipt, you get nothing. Receipts can’t be combined.
• Instant refund at the register works for receipts under 1,000,000 won, up to 5,000,000 won in total for the trip.
• Receipts over 6,000,000 won can only be refunded at the airport.
• A refund of 75,000 won or more usually means a customs check at the airport. That’s a purchase of about 1,000,000 won.
• Other refund companies use their own tables, so your slip can differ by a few thousand won.

The Calculator

The calculator works in your browser and doesn’t save anything you type. The exchange rate is set to 1,335 won to the dollar, close to the late-October 2026 market rate. Change it to whatever your card or the airport counter is actually offering.

Why You Don’t Get the Full 10% Back

In New York, I’m used to tax being added at the register. A $50 item costs $54.44 by the time I pay, because the city’s 8.875% sales tax goes on top.

Korea does it the other way. The 10% VAT is already inside the price tag. So a 100,000-won tag is really about 90,909 won of product plus 9,091 won of tax. That’s the first reason the refund is never 10% of what you paid: the tax itself is only about 9.1% of the total.

The second reason is that private refund companies run the system, and each one keeps a cut. Global Tax Free’s investor materials describe its fee as roughly 30% of the VAT. Take 9.1%, remove about a third, and you land near 6% to 7%, which is what most shoppers see.

So for a 100,000-won purchase:

	Amount
Price you paid	100,000 won
VAT inside that price	9,091 won
Refund (Global Tax Free table)	7,000 won
Kept by the refund company	About 2,091 won
Refund as a share of the price	7.0%

How Much Tax Refund in Korea Do You Actually Get? The Table

Here are selected brackets from Global Tax Free’s published table, checked on November 1, 2026. Dollar figures use 1,335 won to the dollar. The calculator uses all 80 brackets.

Purchase on one receipt	Refund	Share of price	Refund in USD (approx.)
Under 15,000 won	0	0%	$0
15,000–29,999 won	1,000 won	3.3%–6.7%	$0.75
30,000–49,999 won	2,000 won	4.0%–6.7%	$1.50
50,000–74,999 won	3,000 won	4.0%–6.0%	$2.25
75,000–99,999 won	5,000 won	5.0%–6.7%	$3.75
100,000–124,999 won	7,000 won	5.6%–7.0%	$5.24
200,000–224,999 won	12,000 won	5.3%–6.0%	$8.99
300,000–324,999 won	19,000 won	5.8%–6.3%	$14.23
500,000–549,999 won	35,000 won	6.4%–7.0%	$26.22
950,000–999,999 won	68,000 won	6.8%–7.2%	$50.94
1,000,000–1,099,999 won	75,000 won	6.8%–7.5%	$56.18
2,000,000–2,099,999 won	150,000 won	7.1%–7.5%	$112.36
5,900,000–5,999,999 won	480,000 won	8.0%–8.1%	$359.55
6,000,000 won or more	90% of the VAT	About 8.2%	$367+

For 6,000,000 won and up, Global Tax Free pays 90% of the VAT and rounds down. The calculator rounds that down to the nearest 1,000 won.

Two things jump out of that table. Small receipts are the worst deal in percentage terms, and the rate climbs slowly as the purchase gets bigger. But on an ordinary shopping trip, the difference between 6% and 7% is a few dollars. The brackets matter more than the averages.

Using the Brackets: Small Moves That Change Your Refund

This is where a Korea tax refund calculator earns its keep. Because each bracket pays a fixed amount, the edges of the brackets are where your money is.

• Just under a bracket, add something you actually want. A 95,000-won receipt gets 5,000 won back. At 100,000 won, it’s 7,000. If there’s a 5,000-won sheet mask you’d buy anyway, adding it pays for itself, and then some.
• Pay for everything at one store together. Two 14,000-won receipts return nothing. One 28,000-won receipt returns 1,000 won. The calculator flags it when you enter more than one receipt under 15,000 won.
• Watch the 1,000,000-won line. At 999,999 won, you can get an instant refund. At 1,000,000 won, you can’t, because the rule is “under” 1,000,000, not “up to.” The refund jumps from 68,000 to 75,000 won, but you’ll be claiming it downtown or at the airport, and customs will probably want to see the item.
• Don’t buy things just to cross a line. Adding 20,000 won of stuff you don’t need to earn 2,000 won back is a loss of 18,000 won. The calculator’s nudge only shows up when the gap is small.

Here’s a sample day of shopping, the kind of thing the calculator is built for:

Receipt	Paid	Refund	How you’d get it
Cosmetics chain	128,000 won	8,000 won	Instant, at the register
Clothing store	245,000 won	13,000 won	Instant (5,000 won more would make it 15,000)
Small gift shop	14,000 won	0	Under the minimum
Department store coat	1,200,000 won	90,000 won	Downtown or airport; customs check likely
Total	1,587,000 won	111,000 won (about $83)	About 7.0% back

Instant, Downtown, or Airport: Which One Applies to Your Receipt

The calculator tags each receipt with the ways it can be refunded. Here’s the logic behind those tags.

	Instant refund	Downtown refund	Airport refund
Receipt amount	15,000 to 999,999 won	15,000 to 6,000,000 won	15,000 won and up, no ceiling
Trip limit	5,000,000 won of instant-refund purchases in total	None stated	None
When you get the money	At the register, as a lower price	Before you leave Korea	On departure day, or later by card
What you need	Your physical passport	Passport, refund slip, credit card as a guarantee	Passport, refund slip, the goods
Customs at departure	Can still apply	Required, or your card can be charged	Required for many receipts

A few notes on how the calculator treats these limits:

• The 5,000,000-won instant cap counts receipts in the order you enter them. Once the running total of instant-refund purchases would pass 5,000,000 won, later receipts are tagged for a downtown or airport refund instead. In real life, the store’s system tracks this through your passport.
• Whether the cap includes the purchase being rung up isn’t spelled out clearly, so the calculator assumes it does, which is the cautious reading.
• The customs tag appears at a refund of 75,000 won or more. That figure is widely used by refund operators and airport guides, and I used it in my main guide too. Korea’s official regulations let customs pick receipts by its own criteria, so a smaller receipt can still be checked.

For the step-by-step version, including what to do at Incheon before you check your bag, see my Korea tax refund for tourists guide.

The Rules Behind the Numbers (2026)

The calculator’s limits come from Korea’s special regulations on VAT refunds for foreign tourists, as they stand in November 2026:

• Who qualifies: foreign visitors who have been in Korea less than six months and aren’t working there. Korean nationals who’ve lived abroad for two years or more can qualify on short visits.
• Minimum: 15,000 won per receipt, including tax. This dropped from 30,000 won in 2024, and some older English guides still show the old number.
• Instant refund: under 1,000,000 won per receipt, 5,000,000 won in total. Both limits doubled in January 2024.
• Downtown refund: up to 6,000,000 won per receipt.
• Export deadline: the goods must leave Korea within three months of purchase.
• What doesn’t count: restaurant meals, transportation, tobacco, and cosmetic procedures. The medical VAT refund for cosmetic surgery and skin treatments ended on December 31, 2025. I cover where that stands in my post on the Korea cosmetic surgery tax refund.

Different Refund Companies, Slightly Different Numbers

Every tax-free store works with one refund company, and the logo is on your slip: Global Tax Free, Global Blue, Easy Tax Refund, CubeRefund, and a few others. Each publishes its own table.

I built the calculator on Global Tax Free’s table because it’s the one I could check in full on the company’s own website, and it’s one of the biggest operators in Korea. Other operators land in the same general range. Comparison tables posted by travel sites show differences of roughly 500 to 1,000 won per bracket at everyday purchase sizes.

If you’re shopping for something expensive and have a choice between two stores, the refund company is not worth switching stores over. The difference is usually smaller than a single coffee.

Reality Check: What the Calculator Can’t Tell You

• It’s an estimate. The amount printed on your refund slip is the final number. Different operators, and occasionally different stores, can vary.
• Card refunds lose a little. If you take your refund on a credit card, your card company converts the won to dollars at its own rate, and it can take weeks to post. A card with no foreign transaction fees helps here and everywhere else in Korea; I compare options in my guide to the best credit card to use in South Korea. [AFFILIATE: no-foreign-transaction-fee credit card]
• Cash in dollars costs more than cash in won. Airport counters may offer other currencies, but the conversion usually isn’t in your favor.
• Instant refund depends on the store. Not every Tax Free shop does instant refunds, even for small receipts. Ask before you pay.
• Your passport matters more than the math. Without your physical passport at the register, you don’t get an instant refund at all.
• Used items can cost you the refund. Customs can ask to see goods unopened and unused.
• Rules change. The minimum and the instant limits both changed in 2024, and the medical refund ended in 2025. I’ll update the table here if anything shifts.

FAQ

How much tax refund in Korea will I get on 100,000 won?

About 7,000 won, or roughly $5, under Global Tax Free’s table. The VAT inside a 100,000-won price is about 9,091 won, and the refund company keeps the difference as its fee.

Is the Korea tax refund calculator accurate for every store?

It’s exact for stores that use Global Tax Free and close for everyone else. Other refund companies use their own tables, which typically differ by a few hundred to a few thousand won per receipt. The number printed on your refund slip is the one that counts.

Can I add up several small receipts to reach 15,000 won?

No. Each receipt has to be 15,000 won or more on its own. If you’re buying several small things at one store, pay for them together.

What is the highest tax refund rate in Korea?

About 8.2% of the price, on a single receipt of 6,000,000 won or more. At that level, Global Tax Free pays 90% of the VAT. Everyday purchases usually return 5% to 7%.

Why does the calculator say “customs check likely”?

Receipts with a refund of 75,000 won or more, which means purchases of roughly 1,000,000 won and up, are usually sent to the customs desk at the airport so an officer can see the item. Customs can also pick smaller receipts at random, so keep refund items where you can reach them until you’re done.

The Bottom Line

The Korea tax refund calculator does one job: it turns a stack of receipts into a real number before you get to the airport. For most trips, that number is 5% to 7% of what you spent. The biggest gains come from paying at one register instead of two, noticing when you’re a few thousand won under a bracket, and remembering your passport. If you want to see how the refund fits into the rest of your budget, try my South Korea trip cost calculator, and for cash and card strategy, my guide on where to exchange money in Seoul.