personal wallets

South Korea

2026-08-31 08:45:43

South Korea’s tax agency plans wallet-tracing tool to close crypto tax gap

South Korea’s National Tax Service plans to adopt a commercial tracing program already used by domestic and overseas investigative agencies to track and analyze fund flows between digital asset wallets. The move is aimed at closing a tax enforcement gap tied to personal wallets. The South Korean government said digital assets held in personal wallets and on overseas exchanges are subject to taxation when income is generated through transfers or lending. For overseas exchanges, authorities plan to respond through the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, or CARF, an automatic information exchange framework for crypto assets.

1040

South Korea

2026-08-20 08:38:44

South Korea says gains from crypto held in personal wallets or overseas exchanges are taxable

South Korea’s government said gains earned by residents from digital assets held in personal wallets or on overseas exchanges are, in principle, subject to tax if the income comes from transfers or lending, according to Digital Asset. The clarification covers assets held outside domestic trading platforms and points to taxation based on how the profit is generated rather than where the assets are stored. The country’s digital asset tax is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. The income will be taxed as other income, with a 2.5 million won deduction and a 20% tax rate. Including local tax, the top rate will reach 22%.

1220

South Korea

2026-08-11 08:31:35

South Korea Removes $700 Threshold and Extends Crypto Travel Rule to All Transfers

South Korea’s Cabinet approved amendments to the enforcement decree of its Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information on Aug. 11, removing the 1 million won, or roughly $700, threshold that had limited the crypto Travel Rule to larger transfers. Once the revised rules take effect six months after promulgation, all transfers between registered virtual asset service providers, or VASPs, will be subject to information-sharing requirements regardless of size. The amendment also tightens oversight of transfers involving overseas exchanges and personal wallets through a risk-based framework, while imposing separate suspicious transaction monitoring for transfers of 10 million won or more tied to foreign platforms or self-hosted wallets. At the same time, South Korea is raising VASP registration standards across financial soundness, internal controls, staffing, infrastructure, and major shareholder review, with those registration provisions scheduled to take effect on Aug. 20 and a one-year grace period for existing operators.

1900