Overseas Direct Purchase Customs Duty Easy Payment via Smartphone

Payment of customs duties for overseas direct purchases will become possible via smartphones.

The Korea Customs Service announced on the 30th that it will implement the ‘Mobile Customs Payment Service’ starting from the 1st of next month.

This service allows individuals to conveniently pay taxes (customs duties, import VAT, individual consumption tax, etc.) imposed on goods purchased through overseas direct purchases using their smartphones.

The introduction of this service by the Korea Customs Service is in response to the increasing trend of overseas direct purchase users. In fact, the number of overseas direct purchase transactions reaches 100 million annually, and the number of tax payment cases for individual purchases approaches 3 million each year.

Among these, 2 million cases involve ordering and payment including taxes at the time of purchase, with the overseas direct purchase sellers paying the taxes on imported goods. The remaining 1 million cases involve individuals directly paying taxes under conditions excluding taxes.

In the latter case, individuals have experienced inconvenience due to complicated procedures such as registering as a member of the Korea Customs Service’s electronic customs clearance system and registering a joint certificate to pay taxes, or receiving tax payment information from customs brokers and entering electronic payment numbers in bank apps.

This is the background for the Korea Customs Service’s introduction of the mobile customs payment service.

With the introduction of this service, individual overseas direct purchase users will receive tax payment notification messages via KakaoTalk (text), allowing them to check the tax details to be paid, access the dedicated customs payment internet Giro screen automatically linked by clicking ‘Pay’ on their smartphones, and immediately pay taxes via bank transfer or credit card.

Additionally, once the tax payment is completed, the procedure can be finalized through a ‘Payment Completed’ message sent by the Korea Customs Service.

The Korea Customs Service aims to enhance convenience for individual overseas direct purchase taxpayers through the mobile customs payment service while implementing various measures to verify phishing messages and alleviate concerns about voice phishing.

Prevention of voice phishing damage is possible by checking customs clearance progress information using the cargo tracking number in the notification message on the Korea Customs Service’s electronic customs clearance system to verify the tax details to be paid, or by calling the declarant (customs broker) or the Korea Customs Service Customer Support Center (125) as indicated in the notification message to confirm authenticity.

A Korea Customs Service official stated, “With the implementation of the mobile customs payment service, overseas direct purchase users can pay customs duties via mobile and easily proceed with return refund applications. The Korea Customs Service plans to continue promoting digital innovation across all areas of customs administration so that the public can use customs administrative services more conveniently.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.