Do note that the tax refund process at the Incheon airport can involve quite a lot of queuing so get to the airport early if you intend to do tax refund claims. For international flights by non-Korean carriers e.g. Singapore Airlines, you will still need to take the shuttle train to the other terminal to catch your flight so do budget some time to do these tax refunds if you plan to do so at Incheon Airport.
If you are leaving the country from an airport/port that does not have a tax refund counter or got your documents stamped but did not have the time to visit the tax refund counter or are traveling at a time when the counter(s) is closed, drop off your tax refund slips at the Refunds Box. The tax refunds will be sent directly to your credit card-linked bank account.
There is another way to settle your tax refunds even before going to the airport and skip all the queuing and waiting at the airport.
Processing Tax Refund Claims in Downtown Seoul e.g. Myeongdong
There are various locations in Seoul where you can get your tax refunds processed for Global Blue and Orange Global Tax Free tax refund slips (see table below).
You will need to present:
(1) All your receipts and tax refund slips;
(2) Your passport; and
(3) Your credit card. Your name in the passport must match that of the credit card.
You are not required to bring your purchased goods.
Your credit card will be charged with the same amount as the tax refund eligible to you as a guarantee. The payment will be cancelled once the stamped tax refund documents arrive at the respective tax refund agency within a certain period of time.
You will be refunded in cash. The staff will stamp “CASH PAID” at all receipts and return the receipts to you.
You will still need to present your receipts and tax refund slips and your purchased goods for customs inspection at the Incheon airport (see Step 2 above). The customs officers will stamp “ALL GOODS EXPORTED” on these receipts and will not return the tax refund slips to you. The customs office will send these stamped receipts/tax refund slips back to Global Blue or Orange Global Tax Free. You must complete this step and ensure that you don’t end up with the stamped tax refund slips (these slips should go direct to the tax refund office). If you miss this step, you will forfeit the guarantee charged to your credit card plus penalty fees (about 15%).
Do note that Global Blue accepts MasterCard credit card but Orange Global Tax Free does not accept MasterCard (VISA credit card is ok).
By claiming tax refund downtown in Seoul, you save time on queuing at the airport. You also get extra cash to spend with the tax refund! Do note that while you can process most of your tax refund slips downtown, there are still some tax refund slips that require you to claim directly at the airport e.g. handwritten tax refund slips.