Olive Young Tax Refund for Tourists: How It Works in 2026

The short version: at Olive Young, a receipt of ₩15,000 or more qualifies. Show your physical passport at the till and the tax comes off right there. No airport queue.

The rest of this page covers the limits, what doesn't count, and what to do if you forgot your passport.

The numbers

Rule	Amount	Source
Minimum per receipt	₩15,000	Olive Young
Maximum instant refund per receipt	under ₩1,000,000	Tax Times, Korea.net
Maximum instant refund per trip (all stores combined)	₩5,000,000	Korea.net
How much comes back	about 5–8% of the price	Olive Young

The ₩1,000,000 and ₩5,000,000 instant-refund caps have applied since January 1, 2024, when they were doubled from ₩500,000 and ₩2,500,000. (source)

Most K-beauty hauls sit well under these caps. A typical basket of serums, sunscreens and masks clears ₩15,000 easily; the per-trip cap only matters if you're shopping for a lot of people.

At the till: instant refund

1. Shop as usual and take everything to the counter in one go. The ₩15,000 minimum is per receipt, so one combined receipt is better than several small ones.
2. Hand over your physical passport. Olive Young's own FAQ says the physical passport is what you need for the instant refund. (source)
3. You pay the tax-free price. Keep the receipt.

Forgot your passport? Claim it at the airport

If you don't have your physical passport with you, you can still get a refund voucher and claim the refund at the airport's refund counter when you leave Korea. (source)

Airport (post-departure) refunds have no purchase cap, so they're also the route for anything over the instant-refund limits. (source)

At the airport, the order matters. Get your boarding pass but don't check your bags yet. Show the goods and your refund receipts to customs to get the Customs Export Approval stamp, then check your luggage. After that, take your passport and receipts to a tax refund counter or kiosk; cash refunds are paid in the duty-free area after security. (VISITKOREA)

What doesn't qualify

Olive Young lists a few things that are excluded from tax refunds, including sanitary goods, shopping bags and dried fruit. (source) Skincare and makeup are fine.

Who can claim

The tax refund is for visitors to Korea. You need your passport at the till for the instant refund.

You qualify if you're a non-Korean citizen who has stayed in Korea for less than six months, or an overseas Korean who has stayed less than three months and has lived abroad for more than two years or holds permanent residency in another country. You also need to leave Korea within three months of the purchase date. (VISITKOREA)

What changed recently

• January 2024: instant-refund caps doubled to ₩1,000,000 per purchase and ₩5,000,000 per trip. (source)
• April 6, 2026: cruise passengers can now use instant and downtown refunds too. Before, travelers coming ashore on a cruise landing permit had trouble using them. (source)

Before you go shopping

• Physical passport in your bag
• Plan to check out once per store visit, not item by item
• Keep every receipt until you've left Korea
• Liquids going home? Read how to pack your K-beauty haul before you fly

Rules and rates can change. We check the sources above and update the date at the top of this page.