S.Korea to abolish customs declaration forms from May

Starting from May 1, South Korea's travelers who have no items to declare to customs upon entry will not have to fill out a customs declaration forms.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Korea Customs Service announced on Thursday that they will be implementing a revised regulation of the Customs Act and guidelines for customs clearance of traveler and crew carry-on items. This is a part of the government's domestic consumer spending stimulation measures announced in March and the implementation date has been moved up by two months from July.

Until now, all incoming travelers and crew were required to fill out a customs declaration forms. From now on, those who have nothing to declare can enter through the "nothing to declare" lane without filling out the declaration form.

However, travelers who have items to declare, such as those that exceed the tax-exempt limit of $800, foreign currencies over $10,000 and items subject to quarantine inspections such as beef jerky, ham and fruits, still need to fill out the declaration form and go through the "goods to declare" lane upon entry.

The government expects that this new system will alleviate the inconvenience of filling out declaration forms for 43 million travelers annually and contribute to promoting foreign tourism. Additionally, from July, it will be possible to declare taxable items and pay taxes through a mobile app.

With the "Traveler Customs Declaration" app, travelers can declare their items, receive a QR code, and enter the country without undergoing item inspections by showing the QR code to the reader upon entry. Users of the mobile app can also receive and pay tax bills with tax information.

A Ministry of Economy and Finance official said that the government plans to enforce the traveler carry-on item inspection system in a manner that alleviates inconvenience for incoming travelers while also strictly cracking down on dishonest declarations for tax evasion and the smuggling of illegal items such as drugs and firearms.

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at kkm1026@hankyung.com