By Staff Writer
The government of South Korea is planning to impose capital gains tax on cryptocurrencies trading, according to local newspaper Korea Times, citing unnamed government sources within the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The source was quoted as saying that that the new bill will be drawn up by the first half of the next year.
In addition, a relevant bill is also under discussion at the National Assembly: a bill on enhancing the transparency of the trading of virtual assets that awaits passage at sub-committee level.
“If the bill passes the Assembly’s plenary session, it will go into effect one year after the regulation is promulgated,” the report said.
The newspaper claimed that Seoul is planning to levy capital gains tax regardless of the passage of the bill but there needs to be a more precise definition of virtual assets.
In addition, the government needs to make a decision on whether they will consider gains from the trading of virtual assets as the type of gains coming from stock trading or real estate transactions.
If this is the case, the government needs to obtain trading records from virtual currency exchanges, to be able to levy taxes accordingly.
South Korea is going all guns blazing on promoting blockchain. The government has announced plans to invest as much as $382mn for the development of the blockchain industry in the country, amongst a slew of other initiatives aimed at promoting the industry in Korea, including blockchain in trade finance.
