Korea Crypto Tax Delay Petition Hits 50K

A public petition asking South Korea's National Assembly to push back the country's planned cryptocurrency tax by two years has cleared the 50,000-signature threshold required to force a formal committee review, gathering that support in roughly two days as the clock runs down on a tax regime that has already been delayed three times before.

The petition, filed under the National Assembly's public petition system, argues that the tax should not take effect on its currently scheduled date of January 1, 2027, and instead be pushed to 2029, giving regulators and exchanges more time to build out the reporting and valuation infrastructure the tax would require. Its author warned that launching the tax on schedule risks pushing trading volume toward offshore exchanges beyond Korean tax authorities' reach, which would shrink the domestic market the tax is meant to draw revenue from in the first place.

Under the chamber's petition rules, any submission that reaches 50,000 signatures within 30 days automatically qualifies for review by the relevant standing committee — in this case almost certainly the National Policy Committee, which oversees tax policy. Reaching the threshold guarantees the petition a hearing; it does not guarantee the committee acts on it, and previous high-signature petitions on crypto taxation have stalled at the review stage before.

As things currently stand, South Korea's rule would tax annual crypto gains above 2.5 million won, a little under $2,000, at a combined 22% rate made up of a 20% national income tax and a 2% local surtax. The rate and structure mirror the tax treatment already applied to other financial gains in Korea, which is part of why the government has been reluctant to grant crypto another extension: officials have argued that continuing to carve out digital assets undermines the case for taxing capital gains consistently across asset classes.

The petition adds to a run of Korea-specific crypto stories this year, from BitGo becoming the first foreign firm to win a Korean VASP license to regulators blocking Polymarket as illegal gambling — signs of a market that is simultaneously opening up to new licensed entrants and tightening enforcement elsewhere. A tax delay would cut against that tightening instinct, at least temporarily, and crypto advocates in Korea have leaned on exactly that inconsistency in past lobbying pushes, including an earlier petition seeking to repeal the tax outright that also cleared 50,000 signatures.

What happens next depends on how the National Policy Committee schedules its review and how much appetite remains among lawmakers to grant a fourth delay. The ruling People Power Party has previously cited unfinished infrastructure, including exchange reporting systems and valuation standards for illiquid tokens, as grounds for pushing the start date back before; whether that argument still carries weight with a tax base the government has already built 2027 revenue projections around is the open question the committee will now have to answer. The friction is not unique to Korea — crypto groups in Illinois are separately suing over a state-level digital asset tax, part of a wider pattern of industry pushback wherever a jurisdiction tries to formalize how digital assets get taxed.

FAQ

What tax is the petition trying to delay?
South Korea's planned tax on crypto gains above 2.5 million won ($1,800-$1,900), set at a combined 22% rate, currently scheduled to take effect January 1, 2027.

Why does reaching 50,000 signatures matter?
Under the National Assembly's petition system, any petition that reaches 50,000 signatures within 30 days automatically qualifies for review by the relevant standing committee, though the committee is not obligated to advance it.

Has South Korea delayed this tax before?
Yes, the tax has already been postponed three times since it was first legislated, most recently to the current January 2027 start date.