Show Your Passport at Olive Young and the Tax Comes Off at the Register

Spend at least 15,000 won on cosmetics at an Olive Young store in Myeongdong or Hongdae and hand over your passport at checkout, and you'll pay the discounted price with VAT already deducted — on the spot. No need to save receipts and wait at the airport refund counter before your flight home.

At a glance: Instant refund requires a passport and a purchase of at least 15,000 won · Refund rate is 5-8% of the purchase amount · Refund limit is 1 million won per receipt, 5 million won total · Hygiene products, shopping bags and dried fruit are excluded · The GTF (Global Tax Free) desk on the 2nd floor of the Myeongdong Global Town store also processes refunds for purchases made at other stores, not just Olive Young

Olive Young was the first Korean drugstore chain to introduce this instant tax-refund system, and it now runs roughly 110 stores nationwide as designated "global tourism district" outlets staffed with English-, Japanese- and Chinese-speaking employees. Product names and promotional signs are also displayed in English, so shopping doesn't require knowing Korean.

If you forget your passport, or you've been in Korea for more than six months, you'll receive a "Tax Refund" slip instead of an instant refund. In that case, you have to collect the slips and process them at the airport refund counter on your departure day, so it's easier to just grab your passport before walking into the store. Olive Young doesn't run a separate card called a "Tourist Discount Card" or "Olive Young Pass" — if you've heard of one, that's a misunderstanding; the instant-refund system itself already serves that purpose.