South Korea: alcohol and tobacco allowances
Enter your South Korea arrival basket. This profile checks supported quantities and highlights conditions that need customs review.
Results
- Arrival allowance check
- Within assessed quantities — conditions still apply
| Category | Entered | Allowance | Usage | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All alcoholic beverages | 0 L | 2 L | 0% | Within |
| Alcohol value | 0 USD | 400 USD | 0% | Within |
| cigarettes | 0 count | 200 count | 0% | Within |
- Alcohol and filter cigarettes only; age eligibility starts in the calendar year of turning 19.
- Quantities only. General goods/value exemptions, vaping and heated tobacco, commercial imports, sanctions, local restrictions and airline carriage limits are not assessed. Declare goods as required even within an allowance.
- No duty quote: an overage can make an entire category taxable (including in GB and Australia), not just the excess.
Last checked 2026-11-14. Rules change, sometimes at short notice. We list the date we last checked each official source; confirm with the official government source before you travel, buy or file. This is general information, not legal or immigration advice.
This is a general estimate for information only, not tax, legal or financial advice. Real rules have more conditions than a calculator can show, so check the official source below or a qualified professional for your situation.
Part of the Duty-free alcohol and tobacco allowance calculator. Change the inputs above to compare other cases.
How it works
For an independent category, usage is quantity divided by allowance. Where official rules permit proportional mixing, add the fractions: each fraction is that product’s quantity divided by its full allowance. A shared total above 1 exceeds the allowance. Separate rows cannot offset each other.
shared usage = Σ(quantity ÷ category allowance)
EU external arrivals and GB mix tobacco and the spirits/lower-strength category. US nonresident tobacco is proportional; ordinary US resident cigarette and cigar caps are independent. Japan uses actual combined tobacco weight for mixed baskets. Australia assesses one traveller: each cigarette counts as 1 g plus other tobacco weight, with a separate opened packet of at most 25 cigarettes. GB/EU cigarillos must weigh no more than 3 g each; enter heavier products under Cigars. Canada uses alcohol alternatives: wine-only, beer-only or the general mixed-beverage volume. Exclude beverages at or below 0.5% ABV; general goods/value rules still apply.
No intermediate rounding is applied. Display quantities use four decimals and percentages two. Input litres measure beverage volume, not pure alcohol. The GB category changes took effect on 1 October 2026; all profiles were checked on 14 November 2026. Other original commencement dates are not established here.
Key rules and figures
| Item | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Profile scope | Alcohol and filter cigarettes only; age eligibility starts in the calendar year of turning 19. | www.law.go.kr |
| Alcohol | 2 L and USD 400 | www.law.go.kr |
| Tobacco quantities | 200 cigarettes; not assessed cigarillos; not assessed cigars; not assessed g other tobacco | www.customs.go.kr |
Checked 2026-11-14.
Alcohol must satisfy both the volume and USD value conditions. The age test follows the calendar year in which the traveller turns 19, so this profile asks for birth and arrival years. Filter cigarettes are the supported tobacco product here. Other tobacco, vaping and domestic duty-free repurchases require a separate customs check.
Frequently asked questions
What is different about the South Korea profile?
Does a within-allowance result cover every product?
Sources
- www.law.go.kr (checked 2026-11-14)
- www.customs.go.kr (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: auBylaw (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: cigarillo (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: eu (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: directive (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: gb (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: gbChange (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: us (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: visitor (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: usAge (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: usAlcohol (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: japan (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: australia (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: auTobacco (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: auPacket (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: canada (checked 2026-11-14)
- Official allowance guidance: caAge (checked 2026-11-14)
Last reviewed 2026-11-14; next review due by 2027-02-12. The method is written out above so you can check our math.