In South Korea, virtual asset investors who hold cryptoassets worth more than 500 million Korean won, or about $418,935 in U.S. dollars, in foreign accounts must report to their local tax authorities starting in 2023.

Amendment and 20% tax

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s New Year’s Guide, any resident or domestic company with deposits in foreign accounts worth more than 500 million won on any last day of the twelve months of this year must report this fact to the director of the tax authority of the relevant jurisdiction from June 1 to June 30, 2023. This follows a new amendment to the tax law in July 2020.

The government included foreign crypto-currency accounts in this specification in order to gather information on the taxable mass among crypto-currency investors using foreign crypto-currency entities, as it is expected that income from virtual assets will be taxed at 20% from 2023.

The tax on profits from virtual assets, which was originally scheduled to be imposed on the first day of this year, was postponed for a year in December following opposition from investors, experts and politicians. Opponents challenged the timing of the tax law for two main reasons.

First, they argued that income from crypto-currencies should not be taxed until an effective measure is in place to protect investors in virtual assets. The second reason is that the tax schedule is unfair compared to the taxation of capital gains on stocks.

While the taxation of gains on virtual assets is above 2.5 million won (about $2,095), the taxation of gains on stock capital is expected to start on January 1, 2023 from 50 million won, or about $41,911.

Investors: Postponement after strong opposition

As voices calling for the postponement of the crypto-currency tax law grew, especially among Koreans in their 20s and 30s, political parties in power and in opposition began to endorse the postponement. Cha Dong-jun, a professor of tax accounting at Kyungbok University, said their stance on the crypto-currency tax plan was influenced by the upcoming presidential election in March 2022, with votes from people in their 20s and 30s seen as a key factor in winning the election.

The debate on how to implement the most effective plan to tax crypto-currencies remains active in Korea even after this postponement, with the classification of virtual assets as financial assets and the taxation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In neighboring Japan, however, investors are subject to a tax rate of up to 55 percent for those earning more than 40 million Japanese yen (about $347,238) in virtual assets, leading many investors to remove virtual assets from their portfolios. On the other side of the Korean peninsula, China has declared the mining and trading of cryptocurrencies illegal.

Presidential candidate accepts some crypto-currencies

Lee Jae-myung also will be the primary presidential candidate within the world to issue NFTs.

The presidential campaign of South Korean politician Lee Jae-myung, United Nations agency formally became the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate in Gregorian calendar month, can settle for Bitcoin and Ethereum moreover as 3 alternative crypto-currencies that have nonetheless to be chosen by his election committee, The Korea Times reports.

Lee’s crypto-currency supporters are ready to begin tributary to the campaign this month. All given crypto-currencies are regenerate into money with the assistance of an area exchange, in keeping with the report.

The maverick politician’s crypto-currency fundraising set up conjointly includes non-fungible tokens. those that present to Lee’s campaign can receive associate degree NFT receipt that includes the candidate’s picture and campaign guarantees.

This makes the previous governor of Gyunggi province the primary presidential candidate in history to issue NFTs.

The promotion of crypto-currencies is an element of Lee’s efforts to attractiveness to young voters. in keeping with a survey free in Gregorian calendar month, 40.5 p.c of respondents between the ages of twenty and forty same that they had endowed in crypto-currencies.

Last month, he same he needed Asian nation to require the lead within the international crypto-currency scene, describing crypto as associate degree “undeniable reality” at a lecture at Seoul National University.

Lee conjointly supported suspending the taxation of crypto-currencies till next year whereas conjointly promising to extend deduction limits.

The most recent pre-election poll free on Jan. one shows Lee with a 4.6% lead over Yoon Suk-yeol, the conservative individuals Power Party candidate.

The presidential election is predicted to be persisted March nine, 2022.