South Korea Weighs Another Delay to 22% Crypto Tax, Pushing Implementation to 2029
Key Takeaways
- •South Korean government officials are reportedly considering delaying the country's cryptocurrency tax from January 2027 to 2029, according to a report by Newsis.
- •The potential postponement is tied to the United States joining the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework in 2029, two years after South Korea's scheduled start, leaving Seoul without matching US tax data.
- •The tax would impose a 22% rate on crypto gains, split between 20% national income tax and 2% local tax, for investors earning more than 2.5 million Korean won, about $1,883, annually.
- •The levy was first proposed in 2020 with an original 2022 start date and has been repeatedly deferred without ever taking effect.
- •No formal change has been made, as the National Tax Service still lists January 1, 2027 as the start date, and moving it would require revisions to the tax law.
South Korea is weighing another delay to its cryptocurrency tax, with government officials reportedly considering pushing the implementation date from January 2027 to 2029. If approved, the postponement would be the latest setback for a levy first proposed in 2020 that has yet to take effect more than six years after its introduction — and would stretch the gap between proposal and implementation to roughly nine years.
According to a Monday report from South Korean news outlet Newsis, the crypto income tax could be pushed to 2029 in part because that would be the earliest point at which officials would be able to share information on taxes related to digital asset exchanges with the US. The Seoul government has cited concerns over receiving data from US officials as a key consideration behind the potential postponement.
The measure would impose a 22% tax on crypto gains — 20% from national income tax and 2% as part of a local tax — on investors earning more than 2.5 million Korean won ($1,883) in annual crypto gains, meaning even relatively modest profits would fall within scope once the rules take effect. It was originally slated to take effect in 2022 before being pushed back repeatedly.
"We are discussing postponing the implementation of virtual asset taxation," an official from the Blue House presidential residence said.
The timing is closely tied to international tax-reporting standards. The United States is scheduled to begin participating in the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework in 2029, while South Korea is set to implement the rules starting in 2027. Published by the OECD in 2022, the framework establishes common standards for the automatic exchange of crypto-asset tax information between jurisdictions, with exchanges and other crypto service providers reporting user data to local tax authorities, who share it with counterparts abroad. The two-year gap is the crux for Seoul: taxing from 2027 would put Korean rules into effect two years before comparable US data began flowing through the framework. A South Korean official reportedly said the country was considering another delay for the crypto tax because the US "accounts for nearly half of the virtual asset market."
The reported deliberations have not yet translated into a formal change: as of Monday, South Korea's National Tax Service still listed Jan. 1, 2027 as the start date for the crypto tax on its official website. Any change would need to be formalized through revisions to the tax law before the 2027 start date could move.
