These days, many people are having trouble deciding whether they should consider ‘leggings’, which many people enjoy wearing in everyday life, as pants or underwear. It’s the customs authorities. This is because there is a big difference in the tax levied depending on how it is classified.

Reporter Cho Ki-ho covered the story.

<Reporter>

Are leggings pants or underwear?

[Of course it’s not pants?]

[I think it’s underwear. It’s embarrassing to look at.]

[I think it’s a bit ambiguous.]

What to classify leggings as is also a headache for customs authorities.

This is because taxes and tariffs vary greatly.

If leggings are classified as pants, the import tariff is 13%, and if they are classified as underwear and imported from China, which has an FTA with them, the tariff drops to less than half.

As there are no unified standards yet, it is common for the Customs Valuation and Classification Service to determine quality based on sewing type and material.

This means that if you import leggings or buy them directly from overseas and declare them as underwear to reduce tariffs, you could end up in trouble.

[Seungyong Moon/General Team Leader, Item Classification 1메이저사이트, Customs Valuation and Classification Service: There may be an additional tax attached. If a tax difference of about 10 times is collected later, in the case of a small or medium-sized business, it may even lead to closure.]

There are as many as 6,000 requests per year for judgment on products like leggings, which are unclear as to what to classify.

The line between hiking boots and sneakers is becoming increasingly blurred, and depending on what they are classified as, import tariffs are 10 times different. Ball-shaped products used at home or in fitness centers are also considered medical for massage purposes, so there are no import tariffs, but gym balls are for exercise. considered and subject to an 8% tariff.

The question of which new product to classify can sometimes lead to disputes between countries.

When the smartwatch first came out, exporting countries such as Korea and the United States classified it as a communication device with no tariffs, while importing countries classified it as a watch with a tariff of about 10%, which led to conflict, but it was eventually decided through international organizations that it was a communication device.