The South Korea crypto tax delay campaign is running its strongest push yet: the country’s five largest exchanges asked the finance ministry on October 20 to postpone the 22% levy on crypto gains all the way to 2029, while a ruling-party bill, a signature petition and an industry survey pile pressure onto a start date the government still insists is January 1, 2027.
South Korea has already delayed this tax three times – from a 2022 start to 2023, then 2025, then January 2027 in the last change of December 2024. A fourth postponement would push first filing to 2029 and mark the effective unravelling of a levy that has been on the books, in some form, since 2020.
How the South Korea crypto tax delay got its momentum
Three tracks converged this month. On October 16, ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Park Min-gyu introduced bill 2221923, which would start taxation on January 1 of the second year after Korea first exchanges crypto transaction data under the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) – 2029 if the first exchange happens in 2027. On October 20, the five largest exchanges met the Ministry of Economy and Finance formally seeking that 2029 start. And a separate petition from lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, asking for a two-year delay, cleared the 50,000-signature threshold that forces parliamentary review. A ruling-party bill in the mix would go further and abolish the levy entirely.
Public sentiment backs the delay: a Seoul Economic Daily survey of 30 industry experts found 93.3% favor postponement, and 86.7% said trading volumes on major exchanges would decline if the tax takes effect as scheduled.
What the 22% crypto tax actually covers
The rate is 22% in total – 20% national income tax plus 2% local income tax – on annual crypto gains above a 2.5 million won basic deduction. The grace period for gains runs through December 31, 2026, with the first filings due in May 2028. Korea’s Upbit, Bithumb and peer exchanges argue that imposing it mid-cycle, just as CARF reporting is being built out, would push volume offshore; the exchanges’ own compliance infrastructure for the new rules is still being stood up.
Why the government is holding the line – for now
The Ministry of Economy and Finance maintains the January 1, 2027 start is firm and says it is already constructing reporting infrastructure with local exchanges. Notably, none of the October moves has changed the law: the fourth delay remains a proposal at bill stage, and as long as the ministry holds, the levy technically begins in five weeks. That gap between parliamentary momentum and executive position is exactly where this fight has stalled before – Korea’s first two delays were resolved only at the deadline.
The tax fight sits alongside Korea’s broader regulatory push: the Digital Asset Basic Act is in final-stage talks, and a separate forex-law track would treat stablecoins as payment instruments. Whether the 22% levy survives to 2027 will likely be decided by the National Assembly’s calendar, not the ministry’s resolve – and we will update this story the moment a vote lands.
