Duty charges for shopping online

Many expats turn to sites like Amazon.com to find products that they can’t easily come by in Korea, or to save themselves the expensive trip to Seoul to go shopping. Here’s some guidelines to help you decide if it’s worth it: (Thanks to Jason Teale for digging this up)

The Korea Customs and Tarriff Handbook from 2010 is available here.

This from waygook Electronics, books, laptops, clothes/shoes, and bags:

Electronics such as cameras, tablets, smartphones, etc. are subject to 20% taxation.

Books are duty free, but audio books (CDs, DVDs, etc.) are subject to 20% taxation.

There is no duty on laptops, but 10% VAT on the CIF value (the price+freight+insurance fee) is charged.

The duty rate on clothes and shoes is 13%, whereas it’s 8% on bags.

How are duties calculated?

Let’s suppose you ordered clothes (13% duty rate) whose value is $200 USD and the current exchange rate is 1,100 KRW = $1 USD. Let’s also suppose the shipping is $10 USD.

Duty fee = (value of products in KRW + shipping in KRW )*duty rate

Duty fee = (200 USD * 1,100 KRW/USD + $10 USD*1,100 KRW/USD)*13% = 30,030

VAT= (value of products in KRW + shipping in KRW + duty fee)*VAT rate=

VAT = [200 USD*1,100 KRW/USD + $10 USD*1,100 KRW/USD + 30, 030 ]*10% = 26,103

Total fees = Duty fee + VAT = 30,030 + 26,103 = 56,133 KRW

Too confusing? Try this Duty Calculator that Ryan Griffiths shared with us.