South Korea's Ministry of Finance and Economy: The taxation of virtual assets will proceed as planned, effective January 1st next year.

CoinFeed reported on May 7th that, according to Edaily, Moon Kyung-ho, head of the Income Tax Division of the South Korean Ministry of Finance and Economy, stated at an emergency meeting discussing the taxation of virtual assets that the government will proceed with its planned taxation of virtual assets starting January 1st next year. This is the first public statement from the Ministry of Finance and Economy regarding the issue of virtual asset taxation. Under the current income tax law, income from the transfer or lending of virtual assets will be classified as other income, with a 22% tax rate (20% for other income tax plus 2% for local income tax) applied to virtual asset income exceeding 2.5 million won. The tax will target approximately 13.26 million investors. Moon revealed that the National Tax Service is drafting relevant notices and has held multiple discussions with the five major virtual asset operators, with a legislative announcement expected soon.