Petition to Delay South Korea Crypto Tax by Two Years Reaches 50,000 Signatures, Meets National Assembly Threshold

A public petition to the National Assembly seeking a two-year delay to South Korea's planned cryptocurrency tax has met the threshold for formal consideration after attracting 50,000 signatures.

According to the National Assembly's public petition platform on Sept. 13, the petition titled "Petition on a Two-Year Delay to Coin Taxation" reached 100% of the required support. The number of signatories rose to 50,000 in two days from 40,363 on Sept. 11, when it stood at 81% of the threshold.

Under the National Assembly's public petition system, a petition qualifies for review by the relevant parliamentary committee if it secures 50,000 signatures within 30 days.

The petitioner argued that the launch of cryptocurrency taxation should be postponed by two years to 2029 from 2027, while tax infrastructure and related systems are overhauled in the meantime. The petition also cited the possibility of funds shifting to overseas exchanges and a contraction in South Korea's domestic crypto market as grounds for the delay.

Under the current Income Tax Act, cryptocurrency taxation is scheduled to take effect in 2027. Now that the petition has met the filing requirement, focus will turn to whether the relevant National Assembly committee reviews it and to related legislative discussions.