EMS duty: exemption and taxation of personal-use goods
Personal-use goods received by EMS (international mail) or express shipment are exempt from customs duty and value-added tax if the goods price, excluding freight and insurance, is USD 150 or less (USD 200 for goods sent from the United States by express shipment). If the price exceeds USD 150, the customs value is set by adding postage and insurance to the total amount, including the first USD 150, and the simplified tariff rate, which combines customs duty and domestic taxes, applies to mail (15% for general goods, 18% for clothing and footwear with a basic customs duty rate of 10% or higher).
Goods for sale are not eligible for the low-value goods exemption, however small the amount, so an import declaration is required. A recipient who receives personal-use goods through simplified clearance enters the goods price and the freight (postage) separately on the simplified clearance application, and submits a receipt or payment record that shows the price of the goods and the shipping fee separately.
Check the estimated tax at Estimated tax calculator. For the application method, required documents and deadline after you receive the clearance notice, see EMS / express shipment clearance.
Exemption threshold: goods price of USD 150 excluding freight
Among low-value goods received by residents of Korea, customs duty is exempted on "goods with a goods price of USD 150 or less that are recognized as being for personal use" (Customs Act, Article 94, subparagraph 4; Enforcement Rule of the Customs Act, Article 45 (2) 1). The goods price here is the customs value minus the freight and insurance up to the port of entry.
Where freight and insurance "cannot be clearly separated", the price including them is used, so if you have only a receipt in which the shipping fee is combined with the price of the goods, the shipping fee also counts toward the USD 150. Obtain from the overseas seller a receipt that separates the price of the goods from the shipping fee, and mark the field "whether freight (postage) is included in the goods price" on the simplified clearance application consistently with the receipt.
Value-added tax is also exempted on low-value goods that are exempt from customs duty (Value-Added Tax Act, Article 27, subparagraph 6). If the price exceeds USD 150, the tax applies to the total amount including the USD 150, not only to the excess. The International Mail Clearance Notice form states: "If the low-value goods exemption standard (personal-use goods with a goods price of USD 150 or less) is exceeded, customs duties, etc. are imposed on the basis of the customs value of the entire goods (including USD 150)."
For express shipments, if the goods are personal-use goods with a goods price of USD 150 or less, the express carrier submits a clearance list and the import declaration is omitted (list clearance). This list clearance threshold is "USD 200 for goods covered by the special provisions on clearance of express shipments under the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Korea and the United States of America" (Notice on Import Clearance Procedures for Express Shipments, Article 9 (1) 1).
The USD 200 threshold applies only to the special provisions on clearance of express shipments under the Korea-U.S. FTA. Even goods sent from the United States are subject to the USD 150 threshold, as with mail from other countries, if you receive them by EMS (international mail).
The quantity recognized as personal use is set by Annex 11 of the Notice on Import Clearance Procedures. Even if the amount is USD 150 or less, exceeding the quantities below takes the goods outside the duty-free clearance range.
| Item | Personal-use standard (duty-free clearance range) |
|---|---|
| Health functional foods | 6 bottles in total |
| Medicines | 6 bottles in total (if more than 6 bottles, a 3-month supply according to the directions for use) |
| Alcoholic beverages | 1 bottle (1 liter or less); taxable if the goods price exceeds USD 150, with liquor tax and education tax imposed |
| Cigarettes | 200 sticks, with individual consumption tax and tobacco consumption tax imposed |
| Perfume | 60 ml |
| Ginseng (fresh, white, red ginseng, etc.) | 300 g in total |
Goods for sale require an import declaration, however small the amount
The low-value goods exemption applies only to goods recognized as personal-use goods.
Mail that requires an import declaration includes "goods brought in for sale" (Enforcement Decree of the Customs Act, Article 261, subparagraph 3, limited to those meeting the standards set by the Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service), and the simplified clearance application form also states: "Goods for sale are subject to import declaration."
A business that receives goods for sale by mail follows the import declaration procedure at EMS / express shipment clearance.
Therefore the simplified tariff rate does not apply to mail containing goods for sale, and customs duty and value-added tax are calculated at the customs duty rate for each item. Customs Act, Article 81 (1) 2 defines the goods eligible for the simplified tariff rate as "Mail. However, mail that requires an import declaration under Article 241 (1) pursuant to Article 258 (2) is excluded."
Customs value: goods price plus postage and insurance
The customs value of imported goods is the price actually paid or payable by the buyer plus freight, insurance and other transportation-related costs up to the port of entry (Customs Act, Article 30 (1) 6). For mail, the customs value may be determined on the basis of the payment amount stated in the documents submitted by the declarant (Enforcement Rule of the Customs Act, Article 7-3 (1) 1). The International Mail On-site Tax Clearance Notice form states that the customs value is "the sum of the goods price, postage, insurance and fees" and that the goods price is "the price on the invoice attached to the mail or the price entered on the mail declaration."
Freight is subtracted when determining the exemption and added when calculating the tax. For this reason, the shipping fee and insurance paid to the overseas seller must be separately identifiable on the receipt within the payment amount.
For "goods received by residents of Korea that are recognized as being for personal use, with a total customs value of KRW 200,000 or less excluding freight and insurance" and transported by aircraft, the freight is "the rate under the surface parcel post rate table applied in Korea" instead of the actual air freight, and if this rate exceeds the actual air freight, the air freight applies (Enforcement Rule of the Customs Act, Article 4-3 (2) 7 and (3) 1). To receive this freight treatment, submit materials proving that the goods are of this kind when reporting the price. However, this does not apply where the head of customs finds that submitting materials is unnecessary because the customs value is small (Enforcement Decree of the Customs Act, Article 20 (6)).
For consigned goods cleared at a designated holding area where the freight is unknown, the freight under the customs freight table for consigned goods set by the Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service is used (same Rule, Article 4-3 (1) 4).
Simplified tariff rate for mail: a single rate combining customs duty and domestic taxes
The simplified tariff rate under Customs Act, Article 81 (1) 2 may be applied to mail subject to simplified clearance and mail subject to on-site tax clearance (Notice on Import Clearance Procedures for International Mail, Article 25 (1)). The simplified tariff rate is a rate set by Presidential Decree on the basis of the customs duty, temporary import value-added tax and domestic tax rates of the imported goods (Customs Act, Article 81 (3)), and value-added tax is exempted on postal goods subject to the simplified tariff rate (Value-Added Tax Act, Article 27, subparagraph 8). The rates are set by Annex 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Customs Act.
| Item | Rate |
|---|---|
| Gaming machines, gambling devices for amusement and other amusement goods subject to individual consumption tax | 47% |
| Jewels, pearls, tortoiseshell, coral, amber, ivory and products made of them, and precious metal products subject to individual consumption tax | KRW 721,200 + 45% of the amount exceeding KRW 4,808,000 |
| Luxury watches and luxury bags subject to individual consumption tax | KRW 288,450 + 45% of the amount exceeding KRW 1,923,000 |
| Fur clothing, fur clothing accessories and other fur products with a basic customs duty rate of 10% or higher and not subject to individual consumption tax | 19% |
| Clothing of leather or composition leather and its accessories, textile fibers and textile products, and footwear with a basic customs duty rate of 10% or higher and not subject to individual consumption tax | 18% |
| Deer antler with a basic customs duty rate of 10% or higher and not subject to individual consumption tax | 21% |
| Goods not listed above (excluding luxury furs and their products, luxury carpets, luxury furniture, passenger cars, hunting guns, alcoholic beverages and tobacco) | 15% |
The head of customs notifies the head of a clearance post office of the tax amount calculated at the simplified tariff rate, and the head of a clearance post office delivers the mail after collecting the tax from the recipient (same Notice, Article 25 (2) and (3)).
Goods to which the simplified tariff rate does not apply
Article 96 (2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Customs Act and Article 55 of the Notice on Import Clearance Procedures exclude the following goods from the simplified tariff rate.
- Goods with a zero customs duty rate and goods eligible for customs duty reduction or exemption
- Raw materials for export
- Goods related to the offenses in Chapter 11 of the Customs Act
- Goods subject to specific duties
- Goods subject to assessment notice for which the customs value of one item or one set exceeds KRW 10,000,000
- Goods in quantities recognized as commercial
- Goods subject to the duty under Article 49 (3) of the Customs Act that are subject to a rate higher than the basic customs duty rate
- Goods for which the cargo owner requested, at the time of import declaration, that the simplified tariff rate not apply to any of the taxable goods
For goods with a zero customs duty rate, only value-added tax is paid instead of the simplified tariff rate. The On-site Tax Clearance Notice form also states: "For some items with zero customs duty, only 10% value-added tax is imposed."
If the recipient of mail on which the head of customs has imposed tax at the simplified tariff rate requests that the simplified tariff rate not be applied, the mail must be declared as an import (Notice on Import Clearance Procedures for International Mail, Article 26 (1) 2). For goods excluded from the simplified tariff rate, a business can receive an import tax invoice if it enters its business registration number on the simplified clearance application (same Notice, Form No. 3).
Customs duty, value-added tax and individual consumption tax when the simplified tariff rate is not applied
If the simplified tariff rate is not applied, customs duty is calculated at the customs duty rate for each item. Value-added tax is 10% of the sum of the customs value plus customs duty, individual consumption tax, liquor tax, education tax, special tax for rural development, and transportation, energy and environment tax (Value-Added Tax Act, Article 29 (2) and Article 30).
Jewels, pearls, precious metal products, luxury watches, luxury bags and similar goods are subject to individual consumption tax. For these goods, 20% is imposed on the portion exceeding the standard price (Individual Consumption Tax Act, Article 1 (2) 2), and the tax base for imported goods is the sum of the customs value and the customs duty at the time of import declaration (same Act, Article 8 (1) 3). The standard prices are as follows (Enforcement Decree of the Individual Consumption Tax Act, Article 4).
- Jewels, pearls, tortoiseshell, coral, amber, ivory and products made of them, precious metal products, and luxury furs and their products: KRW 5,000,000 per item
- Luxury watches, luxury carpets and luxury bags: KRW 2,000,000 per item
- Luxury furniture: KRW 8,000,000 per set or KRW 5,000,000 per item
Aggregated taxation of goods received in separate shipments
In the following cases, if the sum of the prices of the goods exceeds the personal-use standard, the head of customs excludes them from customs duty exemption and taxes them in aggregate (Notice on Import Clearance Procedures, Article 68).
- "Where taxable goods brought in under a single bill of lading (B/L) or air waybill (AWB) are divided to fall within the duty-free range and cleared"
- "Where taxable goods purchased from the same overseas supplier on the same date are divided to fall within the duty-free range, brought in and cleared"
The second criterion is the same overseas supplier and the same purchase date. If you place several orders with one seller in a day, check before ordering whether the total goods price exceeds the personal-use standard.
Depending on the aggregated amount, express shipments over USD 150 are excluded from list clearance and cleared by general import declaration, and mail of USD 1,000 or less is taxed according to the mail list and similar documents, while mail over USD 1,000 is cleared by general import declaration (same Notice, Article 69 (1)). If a subsequent analysis of electronic data confirms that taxable goods were divided and improperly cleared duty-free, the head of customs collects the customs duty and other taxes or requests an investigation (same Article (4)).
Tax calculation examples
The following examples assume a customs exchange rate of KRW 1,400 per US dollar.
| Item | Example 1: Clothing (basic customs duty rate of 10% or higher) | Example 2: Goods with a zero customs duty rate |
|---|---|---|
| Goods price | USD 180 | USD 180 |
| Exemption determination | Exceeds USD 150, taxable | Exceeds USD 150, taxable |
| Postage and insurance | USD 40 | USD 40 |
| Customs value | USD 220 × KRW 1,400 = KRW 308,000 | USD 220 × KRW 1,400 = KRW 308,000 |
| Applicable rate | Simplified tariff rate of 18% | Simplified tariff rate not applied, customs duty KRW 0, value-added tax 10% |
| Tax amount | KRW 55,440 | KRW 30,800 |
If the goods price is USD 140 and the postage is USD 40, the goods price excluding freight is USD 150 or less, so personal-use goods are free of tax. If the price of the goods and the shipping fee are not separated on the receipt, the amount is determined to be USD 180 and the goods are taxed.
Related articles
Source: Customs Act, Article 30 (Principle of determining customs value), Article 81 (Application of simplified tariff rate), Article 94 (Exemption for low-value goods, etc.), Enforcement Decree of the Customs Act, Article 20 (Determination of freight, etc.), Article 96 (Application of simplified tariff rate), Article 261 (Mail subject to import or export declaration), Annex 2 (Simplified tariff rates), Enforcement Rule of the Customs Act, Article 4-3 (Determination of freight, etc.), Article 7-3 (Determination of customs value of travelers' baggage, mail, etc.), Article 45 (Low-value goods exempt from customs duty), Value-Added Tax Act, Article 27 (Exemption for import of goods), Article 29 (Tax base), Article 30 (Tax rate), Individual Consumption Tax Act, Article 1 (Taxable objects and tax rates), Article 8 (Tax base), Enforcement Decree of the Individual Consumption Tax Act, Article 4 (Standard price), Notice on Import Clearance Procedures for International Mail, Article 25 (Application of simplified tariff rate and tax collection), Article 26 (Exceptional import declaration), Form No. 1 (International mail clearance notice), Form No. 2 (International mail on-site tax clearance notice), Form No. 3 (International mail simplified clearance application), Notice on Import Clearance Procedures, Article 55 (Goods excluded from the simplified tariff rate), Article 68 (Standard for aggregated taxation), Article 69 (Processing of import declarations, etc. under aggregated taxation), Annex 11 (Personal-use standards), Notice on Import Clearance Procedures for Express Shipments, Article 9 (Declaration classification). Confirmed on 2026-10-21.