Lim Kwang-hyun: "Preparing to Ensure No Disruptions in Virtual Asset Taxation"

▲ National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun answers lawmakers' questions during a parliamentary audit of the National Tax Service by the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Committee held at the Government Complex Sejong on the 13th.

The Commissioner of the National Tax Service stated that preparations are underway to ensure the virtual asset taxation system, scheduled to take effect in January of next year, is implemented without any disruptions.

During the parliamentary audit conducted by the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Committee today (the 13th), National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun gave this response in reply to an inquiry by People Power Party lawmaker Park Soo-young regarding the preparedness for virtual asset taxation.

In response to lawmaker Park's question asking whether the Ministry of Economy and Finance or the National Tax Service is the main body responsible for taxation preparations, Commissioner Lim answered, "Both sides need to work on it, and we are handling the systematic and practical aspects."

Regarding the number of taxable individuals and expected tax revenue, he did not provide specific figures, stating, "Once the law takes effect, we need to receive data and begin verification starting from the reporting period in May 2028."

Addressing criticisms that preparations for building virtual asset taxation systems among South Korea's five major cryptocurrency exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Digital X, and Gopax) are insufficient, he replied, "We are continuously consulting with the exchanges at the working level."

He explained that even with the implementation of the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) for the automatic exchange of international digital asset transaction information, there are limitations in capturing tax bases.

Commissioner Lim remarked, "Because virtual assets are such a new domain, it is a challenge not only for our country's tax authority but for tax authorities worldwide," adding, "Once CARF is implemented, more advanced data exchange will take place."

He further noted, "It is true that countries levying taxes also face difficulties with parts that are hard to capture, such as peer-to-peer wallet transactions," and added, "We continue to discuss how to cooperate and strive to capture tax bases during meetings of tax commissioners, and it seems like a problem that time will have to resolve."

(Photo: Yonhap News)

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