Seoul adds English labels to taxi receipts to address tourist complaints of overcharging
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it has started issuing taxi receipts translated into English to address complaints of overpriced fares.
According to local news outlets The Korea Herald and The Korea Times, the government introduced bilingual taxi receipts beginning last December, after receiving a total of 487 cases of alleged overcharging.
Foreign national passengers reported these between June and December 2025 through the city's QR-based taxi complaint system.
With the new English-labeled receipts, passengers will now be provided with itemized fare details that include the total fare, pick-up and drop-off times, late-night and out-of-district surcharges, as well as information on how to report cases of overcharging.
The government has also simplified English terminology across platforms, referring to fares as "meter fare" and road charges as "toll fee."
"Previously, paper taxi receipts were printed only in Korean and did not show whether surcharges were applied, a flaw that could be exploited—such as misuse of the out-of-city surcharge—to overcharge foreign passengers, prompting the city to improve the system," the government said.
The receipts can also be checked in advance through foreigner-focused apps such as Kakao Mobility’s K.ride and TABA, as well as widely used platforms like Tada and Tmoney’s Onda.
"To break the cycle of illegal taxi practices such as overcharging, we will actively inform foreign passengers of how to report violations and impose stricter penalties on drivers when wrongdoing is confirmed," said Yeo Jang-kwon, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Transportation Bureau.
"As we move toward a new era of tourism, we will do our utmost to create a taxi environment where foreign visitors can travel with greater confidence and convenience," he added.
For now, the government is continuing its investigation into the reported overcharging cases and will impose fines on drivers found guilty of the act.
