South Korea Confirms Cryptocurrency Gains Tax Starting January 1, 2027

South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance confirmed that its 2026 tax reform plan contains no provision to delay the country's long-anticipated 22% cryptocurrency gains tax, solidifying January 1, 2027 as the definitive start date.

The confirmation comes seven months after the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework began collecting transaction data in 52 jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, all 27 European Union member states, and Japan. This means that South Korean traders who moved their activity to Binance EU, Coinbase UK, Kraken (EU), or major Japanese platforms such as bitFlyer or Bitbank since January 1 have been generating reportable transaction records under the CARF framework.

The records will flow automatically to the National Tax Service, as part of the first scheduled CARF cross-border exchange, currently targeted for September 2027. The exchange they use is already collecting their name, tax identification number, trade-by-trade amounts, and tax residency. Those records will move to the NTS by September 2027.