For nine years, a foreign patient who had skin resurfacing, a wrinkle treatment, double-eyelid surgery, fat-dissolving injections, or breast augmentation in South Korea could file for a 10 percent VAT refund on the procedure. As of January 1, 2026, that refund no longer exists — and the bill written to bring it back is currently sitting in a National Assembly subcommittee with no passage date attached.
What actually changed
The refund was introduced in 2016 to help draw foreign patients into Korea’s cosmetic and dermatology market. The National Assembly passed a Restriction of Special Taxation Act amendment removing the provision, and the special refund period ended December 31, 2025. There was no extension in the government’s 2026 tax reform package.
The scale of what disappeared is documented in the government’s own figures. Foreign medical tourism spending reached 1.24 trillion won in 2024 — roughly three times the 2019 level — with cosmetic surgery and dermatology accounting for 77.3 percent of that total. The refund program itself paid out a record 9.55 billion won in 2024, and 8.26 billion won in the first half of 2025 alone, shortly before it ended.
The bill that’s trying to reverse it
In April 2026, Rep. Jo Gye-won and 11 co-sponsors introduced an amendment to reinstate the refund, proposing to extend the special provision through December 31, 2027. The bill was referred to the tax and fiscal policy subcommittee on July 29, 2026. As of this writing, it has not been passed, and no date for a vote has been set.
The sponsors’ stated rationale is that ending the refund weakened Korea’s price competitiveness in the global medical tourism market and reduced the incentive to attract foreign patients. Industry groups have pushed the same argument publicly, warning of price competitiveness loss, reduced pricing transparency, and patients shifting to competing destinations.
What this means if you’re booking now
If you’re researching or booking treatment in Korea in 2026, the 10 percent refund that older guides, forum posts, and clinic marketing may still reference is not currently available. Clinics that continue to advertise “VAT refund” promotions may be referring to a separate, unrelated discount, or to a refund structure that no longer applies to the procedures it used to cover — worth confirming directly, in writing, before you assume a discount applies to your quote.
Whether the refund returns depends on a bill that, as of August 2026, is still in committee. There’s no reliable timeline for a vote, and no guarantee the current draft — extension through the end of 2027 — is what eventually passes, if anything does.
Figures and dates in this article are drawn from Korean government tax data and National Assembly bill records, cross-checked across multiple independent news reports. This article will be updated if the bill’s status changes.
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