diff --git a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/query/KsqlSerializationClassifier.java b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/query/KsqlSerializationClassifier.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4652903f1259
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/query/KsqlSerializationClassifier.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2022 Confluent Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Confluent Community License (the "License"; you may not use
+ * this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the
+ * License at
+ *
+ * http://www.confluent.io/confluent-community-license
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.confluent.ksql.query;
+
+import io.confluent.ksql.query.QueryError.Type;
+import io.confluent.ksql.serde.KsqlSerializationException;
+import io.confluent.ksql.util.ReservedInternalTopics;
+import java.util.Objects;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.exception.ExceptionUtils;
+import org.apache.kafka.streams.errors.StreamsException;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ * {@code SerializationClassifier} classifies serialization exceptions as user error
+ * while writing to a user topic due to schema mismatch
+ */
+public class KsqlSerializationClassifier implements QueryErrorClassifier {
+
+  private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(KsqlSerializationClassifier.class);
+
+  private final String queryId;
+
+  public KsqlSerializationClassifier(final String queryId) {
+    this.queryId = Objects.requireNonNull(queryId, "queryId");
+  }
+
+  private boolean hasInternalTopicPrefix(final Throwable e) {
+    final int index = ExceptionUtils.indexOfThrowable(e, KsqlSerializationException.class);
+    final KsqlSerializationException kse =
+        (KsqlSerializationException) ExceptionUtils.getThrowableList(e).get(index);
+
+    return kse.getTopic().startsWith(ReservedInternalTopics.KSQL_INTERNAL_TOPIC_PREFIX);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public Type classify(final Throwable e) {
+    Type type = Type.UNKNOWN;
+
+    if (e instanceof KsqlSerializationException
+        || (e instanceof StreamsException
+            && (ExceptionUtils.indexOfThrowable(e, KsqlSerializationException.class) != -1))) {
+      if (!hasInternalTopicPrefix(e)) {
+        type = Type.USER;
+        LOG.info(
+            "Classified error as USER error based on schema mismatch. Query ID: {} Exception: {}",
+            queryId,
+            e);
+      }
+    }
+
+    return type;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/query/QueryBuilder.java b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/query/QueryBuilder.java
index 0ee67161d1cf..86fa735981c7 100644
--- a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/query/QueryBuilder.java
+++ b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/query/QueryBuilder.java
@@ -653,7 +653,8 @@ private QueryErrorClassifier getConfiguredQueryErrorClassifier(
         .and(new AuthorizationClassifier(applicationId))
         .and(new KsqlFunctionClassifier(applicationId))
         .and(new MissingSubjectClassifier(applicationId))
-        .and(new SchemaAuthorizationClassifier(applicationId));
+        .and(new SchemaAuthorizationClassifier(applicationId))
+        .and(new KsqlSerializationClassifier(applicationId));
     return buildConfiguredClassifiers(ksqlConfig, applicationId)
         .map(userErrorClassifiers::and)
         .orElse(userErrorClassifiers);