South Korea pushes for crypto gains tax in 2025

South Korea’s Democratic Party (KDP) is moving forward with plans to implement a tax on cryptocurrency gains starting in 2025, despite opposition from the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP), which proposed a delay until 2028. The KDP, however, is offering a compromise by raising the threshold for taxable gains from 2.5 million won ($1,800) to 50 million won ($36,000). This move would ensure that only larger investors—those making substantial profits from crypto—are affected by the tax, leaving smaller players with little to no impact.

The original crypto tax proposal, which was met with backlash from stakeholders and investors, aimed to impose a 20% annual tax on gains over 2.5 million won. The KDP’s revised plan aligns more closely with the country’s stock tax policies, where the threshold for taxable capital gains is similarly set at 50 million won. The party argues that this approach would make the tax more palatable by only targeting “big players” in the market.

This tax has been delayed multiple times, initially scheduled for implementation in 2021 but pushed back to 2023 due to opposition. Now, with a new proposal in the works, South Korea’s government aims to enact the crypto tax on 1 January 2025, unless further political manoeuvres alter the timeline.