South Korea can introduce a 20% tax for crypto-traders

by in Cryptocurrency News

South Korea crypto tax

The capital gains tax on operations with cryptocurrencies in South Korea can be up to 20%.

Related: South Korea starts testing a cryptocurrency pilot program

This was the opinion of representatives of the private sector during the discussion on legislative initiatives of the country's authorities, writes Cointelegraph with reference to local media.

Proposed changes to existing legislation treat crypto assets as goods, not currencies. According to lawmakers, virtual assets can be considered as tradable electronic certificates of economic value. At the same time, during operations to sell them, they can be perceived as an asset.

The publication says that until now, virtual assets were recognized only as a function of currency and were not taxed on income. Recently, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly traded as commodities. This raised a whole range of issues, such as the need for taxation, recognition of intangible assets with a valuation of property, as well as the recognition of this valuation in virtual assets.

Residents of other countries from this tax, however, will be exempted.

According to the South Korean FSC, the average daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies in the country is 1.33 trillion won ($1.1 billion). From January to May 2020, this value reached 7.6 trillion won ($6.33 billion).