50,000 Signatures Force South Korea Assembly to Review Another Two-Year Crypto Tax Delay, but January 2027 Still Stands

50,000 signatures force the petition into committee

South Korean investors have pushed a petition demanding another delay to the country’s planned crypto tax past the 50,000-signature threshold, forcing the National Assembly to refer the request to a standing committee for legislative review. The petition asks lawmakers to postpone the tax’s Jan. 1, 2027 start date by two full years, and its advancement comes even as tax authorities press ahead with implementation.

Under South Korea’s electronic petition system, any petition that gathers 50,000 verified signatures during its collection period becomes eligible for consideration by a National Assembly committee. Crossing that line does not amend the Income Tax Act, guarantee a committee vote, or stop the National Tax Service from preparing for rollout — but it does compel the legislature to formally look at a demand that officials would otherwise have been free to ignore.

The petition argues that South Korea lacks adequate systems for calculating gains across domestic exchanges, overseas platforms and private wallets, and that lawmakers and tax authorities need the extra time to settle unresolved questions involving transaction records, acquisition costs and enforcement. “Most crypto investors are sitting on heavy losses,” the petitioner claimed, arguing that immediate taxation would place additional pressure on younger investors and describing digital assets as a possible wealth ladder for young people — a characterization that represents the petitioner’s position, not an official assessment.

The document also warns of a possible migration toward offshore exchanges and limited tax revenue during periods of weak trading activity, though it provides no independent estimate of how much revenue the government would forgo or how many investors would actually move assets abroad.

What the 2027 tax actually imposes

Under the current plan, South Korea will tax annual income from transferring or lending digital assets at a 20 percent national rate, with a 2 percent local income tax pushing the combined burden to 22 percent. Each resident receives an annual basic deduction of 2.5 million won, currently worth approximately 1,850 USD, applied after annual gains and losses are combined.

Covered income will be classified as other income and taxed separately from ordinary comprehensive income. Investors will report the previous year’s taxable crypto gains during South Korea’s annual filing window from May 1 through May 31, meaning income earned during 2027 would produce the first crypto tax returns in May 2028.

The rules reach further than many investors assume. Gains from lending digital assets are covered alongside direct sales, and crypto-to-crypto exchanges can create reportable income because authorities calculate the exchanged asset’s value through a reference cryptocurrency and its corresponding fiat value. Foreign platforms and self-custodied assets receive no general exemption — tax authorities have confirmed that private wallets and overseas exchange accounts remain inside the planned regime.

A fourth delay would extend a long tradition

The crypto tax was originally scheduled to take effect in 2022. Successive political decisions pushed the effective date to 2023, then 2025, and finally to January 2027, with the latest two-year postponement approved through an Income Tax Act amendment in December 2024. The new petition is seeking what would become the fourth postponement of a tax that lawmakers have repeatedly delayed rather than repealed.

History counsels patience rather than optimism for the petitioners. A separate petition seeking complete abolition of the crypto tax passed the same 50,000-signature threshold in May, reached committee review, and had produced no change in the law as of Sept. 14. The signature requirement opens a legislative process; it does not determine the outcome.

Officials are building the machine regardless

While the petition moves through the Assembly, the government’s implementation work continues. Lee Hyoung-il, the nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, told lawmakers that the National Tax Service plans to issue specific crypto tax standards before the end of 2026, according to Yonhap News Agency. Lee, whose confirmation hearing is scheduled for Sept. 15, said officials intend to prevent taxpayers from facing difficulties when filing, and defended classifying crypto gains as other income by citing lower compliance costs, the basic deduction and the single tax rate.

He compared the planned crypto regime with taxes already imposed on certain stock transactions and gains from overseas, unlisted or large-shareholder equity holdings, arguing that taxing digital assets improves overall tax equity.

Several calculation questions are already addressed in National Tax Service guidance. For assets held before the tax begins, acquisition value will generally be the higher of the investor’s documented purchase price or the market value recorded on Dec. 31, 2026. Where an investor cannot establish the actual acquisition cost of assets bought after implementation, regulations may permit deemed expenses calculated as a portion of the sale value, though eligibility standards and the permitted ratio remain subject to subordinate rules.

Enforcement is also taking shape. The tax agency has acknowledged that directly identifying every unreported private-wallet transaction is difficult and plans to obtain commercial wallet-tracing software capable of following movements between blockchain addresses before the 2027 rollout. Internationally, participating jurisdictions intend to exchange information under the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, with data exchanged in 2028 covering eligible transactions conducted during 2027. Rules for staking, airdrops and blockchain forks remain less settled than the treatment of transfers and lending.

A decision that belongs to Parliament

For the requested delay to take effect, lawmakers must pass another amendment changing the effective date — a step the petition cannot force on its own. Until then, the January 2027 start stands, the National Tax Service’s preparations continue, and South Korean investors face a filing reality that begins in less than sixteen months. Bitcoin trades near 77,288 USD as the tax timeline ticks forward, a reminder that the market investors would be taxed on has already cycles-highs and drawdowns of its own — whatever the Assembly ultimately decides.