Korea Import Duty Calculator

When a package clears Korean customs, two separate rules apply to it, and they measure two different amounts. Almost every mistake people make estimating their bill comes from assuming the two rules use the same number. This calculator exists specifically because they do not, and understanding the split is the fastest way to predict what a recipient will actually owe.

The first rule decides whether the shipment is duty-free at all. Korea exempts personal-use imports below a set item value: 150 USD for most origins, or 200 USD when the item ships from the United States and clears under the simplified de minimis process. Critically, this test looks only at the price of the goods. Shipping and insurance are not added in at this stage. A 140 USD item with 30 USD of shipping totals 170 USD, but it is still duty-free, because 140 is under the 150 USD line.

The second rule only switches on once the item price alone exceeds the exemption threshold — and here the goalposts move. The moment a shipment becomes dutiable, the taxable value used for the duty and VAT calculation includes shipping and insurance, not just the item price. So a 180 USD item with 40 USD shipping is assessed on 220 USD, not 180 USD. This asymmetry is exactly why this calculator exists: shipping cost has zero effect on whether you cross into taxable territory, but a real, multiplying effect on how much tax you pay once you do.

Once a shipment is dutiable, customs duty is charged first, as a percentage of the taxable value. The rate depends entirely on how the item is classified under Korea's tariff schedule, which varies by product in ways this calculator could not verify against an official source for every category — so you enter the rate yourself — check Korea Customs' own pre-clearance duty estimator for your specific item, or look it up by HS code at our companion tool, duty.pix-make.com. VAT is then charged at 10% on the taxable value plus the duty just calculated, per Korea's Value-Added Tax Act (Article 29, Paragraph 2), which sets the VAT base for imported goods as the customs value plus duty.

Bags and watches get one more layer, which is why this calculator has an optional "luxury item" question. Korea's Individual Consumption Tax Act treats high-end bags and watches as luxury goods and taxes the portion of their value above 2,000,000 KRW — after duty is added — at 20%. A 1,900,000 KRW bag pays nothing extra; a 2,500,000 KRW bag pays 20% only on the 500,000 KRW above the line. On top of that, a 30% education tax applies to the individual consumption tax amount itself (Education Tax Act, Article 5, confirmed against the official rate schedule — a 15% exception in the same article applies only to fuel products like kerosene and butane, not to bags or watches). Both amounts then flow into the VAT base, per the same Article 29(2) of the Value-Added Tax Act, which explicitly lists individual consumption tax and education tax alongside customs value and duty.

Because the 2,000,000 KRW threshold is fixed in Korean won while every other figure here is in US dollars, answering "yes" to the luxury item question also asks for an exchange rate — used only to check that threshold, nowhere else. Every result this calculator shows, including the individual consumption tax and education tax, is converted back to and displayed in USD, so you never see won and dollars mixed on the same screen.

Several things still fall outside what this calculator covers, and it says so rather than guessing. Alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals are subject to entirely separate rules — Korean liquor tax, for instance, is calculated per unit volume and alcohol proof rather than as a percentage of value — and are excluded here. Item-specific customs duty rates also remain outside what this calculator can verify, which is why you enter that rate yourself rather than picking from a list.

Every figure this tool returns is an estimate for planning purposes, built only from pieces that were verifiable against Korea's Value-Added Tax Act, Individual Consumption Tax Act, Education Tax Act, and government guidance. For alcohol, tobacco, or a number you can rely on before a purchase, Korea Customs runs its own official pre-clearance duty estimator, available at the Korea Customs Service Buyer Tax Calculation page (https://www.customs.go.kr/kcs/ad/tax/BuyTaxCalculation.do) — that tool, not this one, is the authoritative source when the amount at stake matters.