South Korea may postpone its crypto income tax for a fourth time. UPI reported on 25 October that Seoul is considering a fourth delay, and crypto.news reported the same day, citing an official, that “the discussion has moved toward delaying implementation of the crypto tax”, with the presidential office backing another postponement and a January 2029 start the date under discussion. As of 26 October, though, nothing has changed in law: the tax is still scheduled to begin on 1 January 2027, and a postponement needs an amendment to pass the National Assembly.

Informational only. This is not tax or legal advice; Korean residents should consult a tax professional.

What the tax is and what the law says today

The Income Tax Act amendments of 2020 introduced taxation of virtual-asset income. As crypto.news summarised on 19 and 25 October, the combined rate is 22% — 20% national income tax plus 2% local income tax — on annual profits from selling or lending crypto, after an annual basic deduction of 2.5 million won. In the outlet’s example, 5 million won of qualifying gains would produce 550,000 won of tax: (5,000,000 − 2,500,000) × 22%.

The start date has already moved three times. It was first due in January 2022, then postponed to 2023, then to 2025, and then to 1 January 2027, the current legal date (crypto.news, 25 October). Income earned in 2027 would normally be reported in the first annual filing period in May 2028. A 2029 start would be the fourth postponement.

What has changed in the last ten days

  • 16 October: lawmaker Park Min-gyu submitted a bill (No. 2221923) with 14 sponsors. It would start the tax on 1 January of the second year after the year international crypto transaction data is first exchanged under the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). If the first exchange happens in 2027, the start is 1 January 2029 (crypto.news, 19 October). Park warned that early implementation could create “unequal treatment between domestic and overseas exchange users.”
  • 20 October: officials met five exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, DigitalX and Gopax — plus executives of the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance, with the finance ministry’s first vice minister Kwon Dae-young and the Financial Services Commission’s Yoo Young-jun among expected participants. An industry official told Yonhap that “the remaining preparation period was becoming increasingly difficult.”
  • 25 October: the presidential office backed another postponement, and the ruling Democratic Party introduced legislation proposing a January 2029 start. The opposition People Power Party supports postponement, with some members wanting a later deadline or repeal. Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok said the issue “needs to be settled this year” (crypto.news).

Video: a Korean-language market commentary published 16 October 2026 on the possible 2029 delay. Opinion, not our analysis; we have not verified its claims.

Why officials want to wait

According to crypto.news’s 25 October report, officials say preparations are incomplete and that the government is not fully ready to collect the tax. Several reasons recur. Transaction data from overseas exchanges is hard to obtain, and CARF only starts operating internationally in 2027, with the presidential office pointing to the United States joining from 2029. Officials also worry that users of domestic exchanges would face stricter enforcement than people trading on foreign platforms, which they see as unfair, and verifying private wallets is difficult. The same article notes that a 20–22 October Gallup Korea survey showed lower presidential approval among voters in their 20s and 30s, but says it did not establish that the tax caused the drop.

The argument is therefore about enforcement symmetry rather than about the rate. A domestic exchange such as Upbit or Bithumb can report its users’ gains directly; a foreign venue cannot be compelled the same way until information-sharing is in place. For the investors in question the practical difference is large: under the current law their 2027 gains are taxable, under the 2029 bill they would not be taxed until the later date.

What happens next

Crypto.news says consultations follow the October parliamentary audit, with possible changes in November’s tax-law review, and that tax reporting guidelines were expected in November. Until an amendment passes, the 2027 date stands. That uncertainty matters to exchanges and investors preparing systems and cost-basis records now. If you trade on Korean platforms, the sensible reading of the news is “likely delayed, not yet delayed”.

A second regulatory item from KuCoin’s 26 October daily report, which we could only find in that single source and therefore treat as unconfirmed, says the Bank of Korea will require virtual-asset service providers to report month-end positions of cross-border crypto users from 2 December and plans to amend the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act to supervise stablecoin payments. The same report also states the crypto tax has been “delayed a third time” to 2027, consistent with the three postponements above. It is not evidence of a fourth, and we cite it only for context.

Chart: bitcoin priced in Korean won on Upbit, TradingView widget (live data; we have not checked that this symbol renders on every device).

Context: not the first push to delay

Delay efforts in Seoul are familiar. A video from 26 November 2021 covers an earlier effort in parliament to push through a postponement of the same tax, which ended with the tax moving to 2023 — the first of the three delays. We include it as dated background, not as a source for current events.

Video: dated background from 26 November 2021.

What it means for bitcoin and for readers

We found no published evidence that Korean tax timing has moved the bitcoin price in recent weeks; bitcoin is trading near $80,020 (Coinbase, 26 October 07:12 UTC) for reasons that are overwhelmingly macro: the Fed decides on Wednesday 28 October and PCE arrives on Thursday (see our Fed-week report). The relevance of the tax story is regulatory. Korea remains one of the most active retail crypto markets, and its choices on reporting and enforcement are a template other jurisdictions watch. For the exchange-registration side of the same regulatory system, see our guide How to Check a Crypto Exchange Is Legally Registered.

Two things would turn “considering” into “done”: a committee vote on the 2029 bill and a revised timetable in November’s tax-law review. We will update this story when either is reported by Korean or international outlets.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are volatile and you can lose some or all of the money you put in. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold bitcoin, any exchange-traded fund, any listed security or any other asset, and the technical levels, probabilities and scenarios discussed are descriptions of published data, not forecasts. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.