South Korea’s government is leaning toward postponing its crypto income tax once more, with a January 2029 start now the most likely option, Korean news agency Newsis reported on Oct. 26, citing unnamed officials at the presidential office and elsewhere in government.

An official at the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, reportedly told Newsis on Oct. 25 that discussions were headed toward pushing implementation back. The government plans to settle its position through inter-agency consultations starting as early as Oct. 26, the report said.

The tax is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. It would apply a 22% rate, including local tax, to income from disposing of or lending crypto above 2.5 million won, after necessary expenses are deducted.

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Waiting on the U.S.

Cross-border data is the main reason. Under the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which lets countries automatically share crypto tax information, South Korea is among 46 countries starting exchanges next year, Newsis said. Another 29, including Canada, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong, join in 2028, and the U.S. makes its first exchange only in 2029.

The presidential office official reportedly said the U.S. accounts for nearly half the crypto market and called its not providing Korea with tax information the main obstacle. A 2027 start, the official added, would leave Korean tax authorities tracing data on U.S. exchanges one by one, and the presidential office said the tax could end up falling on domestic exchange users alone, according to Newsis.

A government official reportedly told the agency a final decision would likely come in late November or early December, after the National Assembly works through tax law revisions. Nothing has been decided, and no official has commented on the record.

A Fourth Delay

The levy was introduced through a 2020 amendment to the Income Tax Act and has been pushed back three times during National Assembly deliberations; another postponement would be the fourth. The government and lawmakers are expected to amend the law again in tax revision talks starting in November, Newsis reported.

The government had originally favored starting on schedule, according to Newsis, arguing that overseas financial account reporting would let it collect tax data from abroad. At an Oct. 13 parliamentary audit, then-National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun, who has since been named presidential chief of staff, told lawmakers that detailed crypto tax standards would be announced next month.

Calls for a delay have since come from both the opposition and the ruling party. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Min-gyu became the first ruling party member to propose a delay, in a bill that sets the start date at Jan. 1, 2029. From the opposition People Power Party, Song Eon-seok has proposed scrapping the tax, while Kim Sang-hoon and Jung Sung-kuk have filed bills to postpone it.

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