VAT refunds for foreign patients on cosmetic procedures in Korea

Published 17 September 2026 · Last updated 10 October 2026 · 10 min read · By Jae Han

Why cosmetic procedures carry 10% VAT when other treatment does not, how the foreign-patient refund scheme worked, what the statute says about its 31 December 2025 end date, and how to check the position on your own dates.

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The short version first: the VAT refund for foreign patients on cosmetic procedures ended for services supplied after 31 December 2025. A procedure done in 2026 carries the 10% VAT as a cost, and no counter at the airport will hand it back. The rest of this page explains why the tax exists, how the refund worked while it ran, and how to check whether the National Assembly has revived it by the time you travel.

Verify before you rely on this: As of 10 October 2026, the text of Article 107-3 of the Restriction of Special Taxation Act shown as in force on the Korean Law Information Center (version effective 18 September 2026, Act No. 21467 of 17 March 2026) limits the refund to eligible medical services supplied to foreign tourists on or before 31 December 2025. On that text, a cosmetic procedure performed in 2026 does not qualify. The scheme was created with an expiry date and extended several times before, so a later amendment could bring it back. Before counting a refund in your budget, open the article yourself (link under Sources), check the date in paragraph 1, and ask the clinic in writing whether any refund applies on your treatment date.

#Why there is VAT at all

In Korea, medical services are generally exempt from value-added tax. Procedures done for appearance rather than health, which covers many cosmetic surgeries and skin treatments, have been treated as taxable, so a 10% VAT sits inside or on top of the price. That is why two quotes for similar work can differ by exactly a tenth: one includes VAT and one does not.

The exemption and its exceptions are written into the Enforcement Decree of the VAT Act. Article 35 exempts services provided by doctors, dentists and Korean-medicine doctors, then carves out a list of services that fall outside National Health Insurance benefits. Those carved-out services are the taxable ones.

The rate itself is set by Article 30 of the VAT Act at 10 per cent. Anything not on the taxable list (a health checkup, cataract surgery, cancer treatment, an implant placed to replace a missing tooth) is ordinarily outside VAT altogether, so there is nothing to refund and the question never comes up.

#How the refund scheme has worked

To support medical tourism, Korea introduced a scheme letting foreign patients reclaim VAT paid on eligible cosmetic procedures at participating clinics. The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced it on 22 March 2016 with a start date of 1 April 2016 and an initial one-year term. The statute shows the end date being pushed back by amendments in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. In the form it has taken:

• Only clinics registered for the scheme could issue the refund paperwork.
• Only listed procedures qualified, not every cosmetic or dermatology service.
• The patient had to be a foreign visitor meeting stay conditions, not a resident.
• The refund was claimed through a refund operator — counter, kiosk or airport — within a set period after treatment, using the document the clinic issued.

The statute fills in the detail. The clinic had to be a medical institution registered with the Minister of Health and Welfare to treat foreign patients. At the time of treatment it issued a certificate of supply of medical services (의료용역공급확인서) and sent the same data electronically to a refund counter operator. The patient then had three months from the treatment date to present that certificate to the operator. According to the 2016 ministry announcement, refund desks sat at international airports and ports, with city-centre counters handling smaller claims, and patients who came through unregistered brokers were shut out of the refund.

1. Before bookingClinic confirms in writing that it is registered for foreign patients, that the procedure is on the eligible list, and that the scheme covers your treatment date.
2. Payment dayYou pay the full price including VAT. The clinic issues the certificate of supply of medical services with your passport details and transmits it to the refund operator.
3. Within three monthsYou present the certificate and passport to the refund operator the clinic named, in the city or at the airport or port on departure.
4. RefundThe operator pays out the refund. Ask the operator beforehand how it pays and whether it deducts a service charge.

#Where the scheme stands now

The government's 2025 tax revision plan, finalised on 31 July 2025, stated that the refund for foreign tourists' cosmetic medical services would end rather than be extended again; the official summary published on 1 August 2025 gives the steady rise in foreign patient numbers as the reason. The amendment to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act promulgated on 23 December 2025 left the date in Article 107-3 at 31 December 2025, and the version of the Act in force from 18 September 2026 still carries the same date.

Revival has been proposed but not enacted. A member's bill introduced in April 2026 would extend the refund to services supplied up to 31 December 2027; the Korea Economic Daily reported on 31 July 2026 that it had been referred to a subcommittee of the National Assembly committee that handles tax law. A bill under review changes nothing until it passes and the amended article is promulgated, and an extension written in 2026 would not necessarily reach back to treatment received before it takes effect. The bill's progress can be followed on the National Assembly bill information system.

Verify before you rely on this: What this means in practice, as of 10 October 2026: treatment received on or before 31 December 2025 fell inside the scheme, with a three-month window to claim. Treatment in 2026 is outside the text currently in force. Tax law in Korea is normally amended at the end of each year, and lapsed incentives are sometimes revived, so check again close to your trip. Three ways to check: read paragraph 1 of Article 107-3 on the Korean Law Information Center (a browser translation is enough to see the date); call the Medical Korea Support Center on 1577-7129; or ask the clinic's international desk to confirm by email which legal provision any promised refund rests on.

#A worked example of the arithmetic

The numbers below are round figures chosen to make the sums easy. They are not a price for any procedure.

Practical note: Two practical points follow from the table. First, a refund under any such scheme can never exceed one eleventh of what you paid, so a promise of '10% back' on the total overstates it before any operator charge is considered. Second, with no refund in force, the comparison that matters is simply whether each quote includes VAT. Ask for the supply price and the tax as separate lines and the question answers itself.

#The practical checklist

1. Before booking: ask whether the scheme is in effect on your treatment dates and whether the clinic participates.
2. Ask whether your specific procedure is eligible.
3. Ask whether the quote includes VAT, and get pre-tax and tax amounts written separately.
4. On payment day: collect the refund document together with the itemised receipt.
5. Before leaving Korea: claim at the refund point the clinic names, within the stated period.

From my own visits: Tax paperwork in Korea is almost always issued at the desk, on the day, with your passport present. Coming back for it later, or requesting it by email from home, rarely works. Treat the refund document like the receipt: nothing leaves the payment desk without it.

#What to get in writing from the clinic

• Whether the quoted figure includes VAT, with the supply price and the VAT shown as separate amounts.
• Whether the clinic is registered with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to treat foreign patients, and its registration number. Medical Korea advises patients to ask to see the registration certificate.
• Whether the clinic says any VAT refund applies on your treatment date and, if so, under which legal provision and through which refund operator.
• Which of your procedures the clinic treats as taxable and which as exempt, if you are combining several.
• That the receipt will be issued in your passport name, with the business registration number on it.
• What happens to the price if a promised refund turns out not to be available.

#Common mistakes

• Budgeting with a refund that an old blog post or an agency page describes. Many English-language pages about this scheme were written while it was running.
• Comparing a VAT-inclusive quote against a VAT-exclusive one and concluding that one clinic is 10% cheaper.
• Assuming the tourist tax refund on shopping covers clinic bills. That is a separate scheme for goods bought at tax-free shops, with its own rules.
• Accepting a cash price 'without VAT' and without a receipt. The missing receipt is the same document an insurer, a dispute mediator or your own tax office would ask for.
• Leaving the paperwork for the airport. Whatever scheme applies, the document originates at the clinic's payment desk.

A price quoted 'minus the refund' is a price that assumes a scheme which, on the statute text in force, does not cover 2026 treatment. If the paperwork is never issued, the difference comes out of your pocket, not the clinic's or the broker's. Ask for the VAT-inclusive figure in writing and treat any refund as a bonus that has to be shown to you in the law before it enters the budget.

#Common questions

Can I still get a VAT refund on plastic surgery in Korea in 2026?

On the statute text in force as read on 10 October 2026, no: Article 107-3 covers services supplied up to 31 December 2025 only. If the National Assembly amends that date, the answer changes, which is why the article itself is the thing to check rather than any guide, including this one.

Is VAT charged on all medical treatment in Korea?

No. Medical services are exempt as a rule. VAT applies to the cosmetic surgery and skin procedures listed in Article 35 of the Enforcement Decree of the VAT Act; the table above paraphrases that list. Reconstructive work and treatment of surgical after-effects are expressly kept exempt.

How much VAT is inside a Korean cosmetic surgery price?

The rate is 10% of the pre-tax supply price, which works out to one eleventh of a VAT-inclusive total. A quote should say which of the two it is. If it does not, ask.

I had treatment before the end of 2025 and never claimed. Is it too late?

The statute gave three months from the date of treatment to present the certificate to the refund operator. For treatment in late December 2025, that window closed around the end of March 2026. The refund operator named on your certificate is the body to ask about any individual case.

Does the shopping tax refund at the airport cover my clinic bill?

The Korea Tourism Organization's tax refund guide (dated 20 October 2025) describes the tourist refund as one for goods (clothing, cosmetics, electronics and the like) and lists services among the things that do not qualify. Medical services were handled under the separate provision described on this page, with a different document issued by the clinic. The shop receipt process does not extend to a clinic invoice.

A clinic offered a lower price if I pay cash without VAT. Is that normal?

VAT on a taxable procedure is the clinic's legal obligation, not an optional extra. An offer to drop the tax in exchange for cash usually means no proper receipt. Without a receipt in your name you have little to show an insurer or a mediator if something goes wrong, so treat the offer as a warning sign rather than a discount.

Planning the trip? Tick off the trip checklist — what to get in writing, what to pack and which documents to collect before you fly home — and keep the Korean phrase cards on your phone for taxis and pharmacies.

This site is an information resource, not a medical provider, agency or broker. We do not arrange treatment, refer patients to specific hospitals, or receive commission from clinics for introductions. Nothing here is medical advice — decisions about treatment belong to you and a licensed doctor.

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