South Korea to impose 20% tax on crypto profits

The South Korean government issued an amendment on January 6 to impose a tax on profits from crypto trading.

Following a legislative notice that is valid until January 21, the amendment is likely to be enacted in February. However, it would only begin levying taxes on cryptos in 2023, according to Cointelegraph and Asia Today reports.

The proposal would introduce a range of new taxes on capital gains, with a progressive taxation schedule for gains in stocks. For crypto holders, anyone earning more than 2.5 million won ($2,300) annually from trading will be taxed at 20%. The threshold is much lower than for stocks – only gains of over 50 million won ($46,000) will be taxed.

For cryptos owned before the beginning of the tax schedule, authorities will consider the highest of either the market price immediately before 2023, or the actual acquisition price. 

The proposed tax regime was expected but delayed several times in 2020. Following lobbying from local crypto advocates, the government initially delayed implementation until 2022. Seoul now appears to have set the new regime in stone.