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  • December 03, 2021

South Korea Delays Plans to Tax Cryptocurrency to 2023.

During Thursday's plenary session, South Korean legislators delayed plans to tax virtual assets until 2023, , CoinDesk Korea reported.

  • Starting Jan. 1, 2022, the proposed tax would have imposed a 20% tax on crypto earnings exceeding KRW 2.5 million (US$2,122) during a one-year period.
  • Before the presidential election in March, lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties are attempting to appeal to voters in their 20s and 30s, who are more likely to be cryptocurrency investors and  therefore against to the proposed tax, according to local analysts.
  • Industry and investor opposition to tax plans is typical, according to Harold Kim, director of the Korea Blockchain Association (KBA). However, it is "uncommon" to see lawmakers and financial authorities at odds over proposed levies, with the measure eventually being postponed.
  • Many crypto investors, including the KBA director, have compared the proposed cryptocurrency gains tax to the proposed stock market taxes and concluded that they are being treated unfairly.
  • Stock investors would only have to pay taxes if their earnings exceeded KRW 50 million (US$42,450), whereas crypto investors would have to start paying when their capital gains exceeded $2,122, according to Kim. Furthermore, stock losses may be carried over for five years, but crypto losses could not be carried over at all. Furthermore, according to the KBA director, the virtual assets tax was planned to take effect a year before the stock gains tax.