South Korea's Ruling Party Moves to Delay Crypto Tax a Fourth Time

Party leader Kim Min-seok floated the deferral at a supreme council meeting inside the National Assembly, according to News1, which reported his remarks on Wednesday. The pitch is simple: no crypto tax until the country writes its crypto rulebook. That rulebook is the Digital Asset Basic Act, a sweeping framework still in the works.

The numbers on the table haven't changed. Under current law, investors would pay 22% — local tax included — on yearly gains from transferring or lending crypto assets. A basic deduction of 2.5 million won, roughly $1,868.7, shields smaller gains, and anything above that line gets taxed at the full rate.

If approved, this would be delay number four. Lawmakers first passed the levy in 2020, and it has been kicked down the road ever since. Kim didn't dodge that history — he said the party intends to set a clear deferral period this time rather than leave everyone guessing again.

Kim also laid out the homework that has to be done before the tax can go live: tapping overseas transaction data, verifying the IT systems that would process the tax, and getting guidance into taxpayers' hands. He said the party consulted its Strategy and Finance Committee, talked with the government, and sat down with crypto businesses before landing on the proposal.

The presidential office has reportedly been weighing an even longer runway — pushing the start to 2029, two years past the current date. That timeline would sync up with the United States joining the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, which lets tax authorities swap crypto transaction data across borders. Kim's emphasis on overseas transaction information points in the same direction.

Nothing is locked in yet. The proposal doesn't change the law by itself, and Jan. 1, 2027, stays on the books until the government signs off on a deferral. With the ruling party's formal proposal now on record, the ball is in the government's court.