South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance was scheduled to hold a closed-door meeting in Seoul on Tuesday morning with the country's five won-based crypto exchanges, as lawmakers from both major parties push to delay a tax on crypto gains due to take effect on January 1, 2027. First Vice Minister Kwon Dae-young was set to chair the session, with the Financial Services Commission, exchange industry body DAXA and outside experts also attending, Edaily reported . The exchanges are Upbit operator Dunamu, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax.
A ministry official told Edaily the meeting would check whether the National Tax Service and the exchanges are ready, and that the ministry had no predetermined position. No readout had been published at the time of writing.
Under the Income Tax Act, gains from transferring or lending crypto are classed as other income and taxed at 22%, made up of 20% national income tax and 2% local tax, on annual gains above KRW 2.5 million. First filings would fall due in May 2028, according to the Korea Times . The levy was legislated in 2020 for a 2022 start and has been postponed three times. The most recent delay came in December 2024, when the National Assembly pushed the start date from January 2025 to January 2027, the Korea Herald reported .
The push for a fourth delay now includes the ruling Democratic Party. On October 16, Democratic lawmaker Park Min-gyu introduced bill 2221923 with 13 co-sponsors. It would start taxation on January 1 of the second year after Korea first exchanges crypto transaction data under the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which would mean 2029 if that first exchange happens in 2027. The bill argues that authorities cannot see trades on overseas platforms until CARF is running, which it says would put users of domestic exchanges at a disadvantage. People Power Party lawmakers have separately proposed scrapping the tax or delaying it by two to three years.
DAXA formally asked the government for a postponement on September 10 on behalf of 27 domestic virtual asset service providers, according to Edaily. Exchanges also cite unresolved treatment of staking, airdrops and DeFi income, Aju Business Daily reported .
The government's formal position is still that the tax starts on schedule. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il told an October 6 parliamentary audit that he would gather views from experts and industry broadly, SBS Biz reported , and the National Tax Service told lawmakers on October 13 that it is preparing to issue detailed guidance around November, according to Newspim . Lawmakers will question the ministry, the FSC and the tax agency again at an audit on Thursday, and any delay would require the National Assembly to amend the Income Tax Act before January 1.
