South Korea Considers 20% Crypto Income Tax

The South Korean government is said to be considering imposing a 20 percent tax on income generated from cryptocurrency transactions.

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported Monday that officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s income tax office had been reviewing a new proposal that could see the country adopt a clearer regime for how it taxes cryptocurrencies.

An anonymous official speaking to Yonhap suggested South Korea is considering re-classifying returns made on cryptocurrencies as a type of “other income,” placing it in the same category as money earned from lotteries, rather than as a form of capital gains, as it is currently treated.

Under existing South Korea legislation, a 20 percent rate is levied on 40 percent of total other income; the remaining 60 percent can be tax-deductible. Currently, virtual currencies can be taxed under different schedules, with rates of up to 42 percent under capital gains.

South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance has pushed…