Korea Customs Duty Calculator
Estimate customs duty and VAT before buying overseas items shipped to Korea.
📍 Country of Origin
📦 Category
💵 Prices
📌 Notes
- • Personal use limit: $200 for US (FTA), $150 for others — per invoice
- • Non-list-clearance items (supplements, meds, plants) always taxed
- • Same-day same-sender = merged into one invoice (can exceed limit)
- • For resale, all amounts taxed (no exemption applies)
- • Duty rates are typical values; exact rates by HS code
※ Actual taxes determined at Korean customs. This is for reference.
How Korea customs duty works
When you ship items into Korea for personal use, you may owe customs duty and 10% VAT. The threshold for tax exemption depends on the country of origin: $200 from the US (KOR-US FTA) and $150 from other countries. Above the threshold, both customs duty (rate by category) and 10% VAT apply.
Calculation Formula
CIF = Item Price + Shipping
Customs Duty = CIF × Duty Rate
VAT = (CIF + Customs Duty) × 10%
Total Tax = Customs Duty + VAT
Typical Duty Rates by Category
- Clothing / Shoes: 13%
- Bags / Watches / Eyewear: 8%
- Cosmetics: 6.5%
- Supplements: 8% (always taxed regardless of amount)
- Electronics: typically 0%
- Books / Toys: 0%
List-Clearance vs General-Clearance
Most consumer goods (clothing, shoes, bags, cosmetics, electronics) qualify for list-clearance, which means tax-free when under the duty-free limit. Supplements, medicines, plants, and animal-derived foods require general clearance and are always taxed.
