South Korea Discusses Moving Crypto Tax Start Date to 2029

South Korea’s government is discussing delaying a crypto tax scheduled for Jan. 1, 2027, with 2029 under consideration as U.S. participation in international crypto tax-data exchanges is scheduled to begin.

“We are discussing postponing the implementation of virtual asset taxation,” a Blue House official said.

South Korea is scheduled to begin exchanging information under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) in 2027. U.S. participation in the framework is scheduled to start in 2029.

The planned levy would apply to annual income from virtual-asset transfers or lending after a 2.5 million Korean won basic deduction. The rate is 22% as an other-income tax that includes local tax.

The tax was introduced in 2020 through a change to South Korea’s Income Tax Act. Its start date was initially set for 2022, then shifted to 2023 and 2025 before the latest planned start date of Jan. 1, 2027.