taxation

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Lee Won-ik, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, stated during a comprehensive inspection at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee regarding the taxation of virtual assets to be implemented next year, "Various circumstances need to be fully considered." On the same day, People Power Party member Song Yeon-sik questioned whether to abolish or postpone the taxation, stating that the nature of digital assets and policy direction have not yet been determined, and that the "Basic Law on Digital Assets" should be prioritized. Lee Won-ik responded that the relevant legislation on digital assets is in the final negotiation stage and discussions will be promoted as soon as possible; regarding taxation, opinions from various parties are diverse, and collection of opinions is still ongoing.The taxation of virtual assets in South Korea was introduced in 2020 through amendments to the Income Tax Act, having been postponed three times previously. The government is currently advancing administrative procedures according to the timeline for implementation in January next year, but some in the industry and even within the ruling party believe that due to unclear standards and insufficient infrastructure, the timing for implementation is not yet mature.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, the South Korean Ministry of Finance and Economy has convened a seminar on virtual asset taxation with five exchange operators: Dunamu, Bithumb, DigitalX, Coinone, and Streami, as well as institutions like the Financial Services Commission, to discuss current taxation regulations, market environment, tax preparation work, and the possibility of delaying or abolishing the tax, but no clear decisions have been made regarding related measures.South Korea's virtual asset taxation policy was established in 2020, originally scheduled for implementation in 2022, but has since been postponed to 2023, 2025, and 2027. The National Tax Service of South Korea is currently preparing relevant details, but matters such as staking still need to be negotiated with the Ministry of Finance and Economy; if the details are announced next month, there will be only about two months left until the planned implementation date.

According to the official website of the State Taxation Administration, the Taxation Administration has issued a reminder for offshore trust taxpayers to declare and pay individual income tax on offshore trust income before the transition period ends on October 22. Those who complete the declaration and payment during the transition period will not incur late fees.According to the "Announcement on Matters Related to Individual Income Tax for Offshore Trusts" (Announcement No. 21 of 2026) issued by the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration on July 24, offshore trust taxpayers are required to declare and pay taxes on offshore trust income. The announcement provides taxpayers with a 90-day transition period, during which the tax authorities will offer tax guidance and tax filing services.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, the South Korean government will convene representatives from the five major virtual asset exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Digital X, and GOPAX—along with DAXA executives on October 20 to gather industry opinions regarding the virtual asset tax originally scheduled to be implemented in January 2027.The current proposal aims to impose a 22% income tax and local income tax on virtual asset transfers and lending income after deducting a basic tax exemption of 2.5 million Korean won. This tax policy has been postponed three times since it was proposed in 2020, and the government is still advancing preparations according to the original schedule. The National Tax Service of Korea is expected to release a related announcement in November.In addition, South Korea's financial regulatory authorities are accelerating the advancement of the government draft for the "Basic Law on Digital Assets," which is expected to be completed by the end of this month and initiate related consultation procedures.

Cryptocurrency media Watcher Guru reported that Australia has proposed legislation requiring the reporting of cryptocurrency transactions and the initiation of international tax information sharing.According to the bill, cryptocurrency platforms will be required to report transactions involving Australian residents to tax authorities starting from July 2027.

Bitcoin News posted on platform X that the Finance Committee of the French National Assembly has approved a proposal to impose a tax of up to 31.4% on the exchange of Bitcoin for stablecoins, applicable even if not exchanged for fiat currency; residents carrying over 800,000 euros in cryptocurrency assets abroad may face an exit tax on unrealized cryptocurrency gains.The related amendment was withdrawn after the committee rejected part of the budget revenue and still needs to be reintroduced during the full debate in the National Assembly. The proposal has not yet become law, and if approved, the new regulations will take effect on January 1, 2027.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, the Commissioner of the National Tax Service of Korea, Lim Kwang-hyun, stated during a National Assembly Finance, Economy, and Planning Committee inspection that the National Tax Service is preparing to announce taxation standards for virtual assets in November.Lim Kwang-hyun pointed out that the taxation standards for transaction types such as airdrops, hard forks, staking, and decentralized finance (DeFi) focus more on the economic substance rather than the form of the transaction, with whether it is a transfer or a loan being the key determining factor. If airdrops and hard forks have the nature of a transfer or loan, they should be considered taxable objects, while some details regarding staking still need to be discussed with the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

According to Journal du Coin, France's 2027 budget bill was submitted to the National Assembly on October 1, and the Finance Committee began voting on ten cryptocurrency amendments starting October 7. As of October 8, three have been approved: the inclusion of stablecoin exchanges as taxable events (effective January 1, 2027), a departure tax applicable to crypto assets exceeding 800,000 euros, and the ability to defer crypto losses for ten years; a proposal to expand the personal wealth tax to include crypto assets was rejected; a tax reduction amendment submitted by Paul Midy was ruled invalid for violating Article 40 of the Constitution (which prohibits reducing public revenue).In addition, the EU DAC8 directive will require platforms to collect user identity and transaction data starting January 1, 2026, and will report to tax authorities for the first time by June 15, 2027, taking effect without a parliamentary vote. Another proposal aims to require reporting for self-custody wallets valued over 100,000 euros, with a maximum fine of 10,000 euros for non-compliance. The aforementioned amendments have not yet become law, and the full assembly will review them from October 13 to 19, with the final vote scheduled for November 17.

South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Lee Hyeong-ryeol stated that in response to the virtual asset taxation policy planned for implementation in 2027, various opinions proposed by the National Assembly, as well as those from experts, industry professionals, and relevant stakeholders, will be widely collected. South Korean lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon questioned that several months before the implementation of the virtual asset taxation, the relevant infrastructure is still not fully developed, including insufficient tracking and verification capabilities for trading records on overseas exchanges, DEX, DeFi, and other platforms.Regarding the expected tax revenue scale from virtual asset taxation, Lee Hyeong-ryeol stated that there are indeed parts that are "difficult to accurately grasp." Since taxation requires obtaining taxpayer declaration data first, further tax estimation can only be conducted after the relevant declaration system is launched next year, and a careful evaluation of the related policies will be carried out.

South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Lee Hyung-ryul stated that in response to the virtual asset taxation policy planned for implementation in 2027, various opinions proposed by the National Assembly, as well as those from experts, industry professionals, and relevant stakeholders, will be widely collected.South Korean lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon questioned that several months before the implementation of virtual asset taxation, the relevant infrastructure is still not complete, including insufficient tracking and verification capabilities for trading records on overseas exchanges, DEX, DeFi, and other platforms. Regarding the expected tax scale brought by virtual asset taxation, Lee Hyung-ryul stated that there are indeed parts that are "difficult to accurately grasp." Since taxation requires obtaining taxpayer declaration data first, further tax estimation can only be conducted after the relevant declaration system is launched next year, and related policies will be carefully evaluated.

According to the Financial Times, the European Union is considering implementing a universal tax measure targeting large enterprises to tax major American technology companies. This move aims to increase revenue for the EU while avoiding a strong backlash from the Trump administration.

U.S. Senator Steve Daines (Republican from Montana, member of the Senate Finance Committee) has officially introduced a 56-page digital asset tax bill, named the "Aligning Digital Assets with Tax Principles Act" (ADAPT Act). The bill aims to establish clearer tax rules for scenarios such as stablecoin payments, network fees, staking, and lending, and plans to extend existing tax rules like wash sales and constructive sales to apply to digital assets.The core provisions of the bill state that taxpayers generally do not need to recognize gains or losses when using compliant U.S. dollar stablecoins to purchase goods and services, while exempting brokers from information reporting obligations for qualifying consumer transactions; however, this exemption does not apply to traders and market makers. The bill also extends wash sale rules and constructive sale rules to digital assets, with compliant stablecoins excluded from the constructive sale provisions to limit loss harvesting behavior in crypto assets.Additionally, the bill proposes to exempt digital assets used to pay for network, transaction, or gas fees of $10 or less from gain or loss recognition and allows qualifying digital asset traders and dealers to choose to account for them at fair market value. The bill also stipulates rules for income sources from staking and mining, a non-recognition framework for digital asset lending, a safe harbor for foreign investors' transactions, and definitions for digital asset classifications; most provisions will apply to tax years or transactions after December 31, 2026. Previously, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee passed its own "Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act" on September 16 by a vote of 38 to 5.

Bitcoin News posted on platform X that the Box 3 tax bill currently under consideration in the Dutch parliament proposes to tax the actual annual returns on investments, including the appreciation of unsold assets. The Dutch Tax Authority explicitly includes cryptocurrency assets held in personal wallets, exchanges, or third parties when calculating actual returns.The Dutch government is studying a shift to a capital gains tax system, which would tax the appreciation of assets when gains are realized, but stated that the existing proposal for 2028 remains the basis during the review of relevant adjustments.The bill has been passed by the House of Representatives and is still awaiting review by the Senate, with the final system potentially subject to adjustments before 2028.

The Illinois Department of Revenue has released the legislative draft details of a 0.2% digital asset transaction tax, clarifying that stablecoins will be considered taxable digital assets, while non-fungible tokens are not subject to taxation. The draft stipulates that DeFi transactions are generally exempt; however, fees paid by users that are deemed "valuable consideration," such as protocol fees for operating or maintaining the platform, may trigger taxation.Only network fees and exchange fees paid to liquidity providers do not trigger this tax. Cross-chain bridging conducted through digital asset brokers and paid with consideration will be regarded as taxable exchange activities. If centralized exchanges charge fees when transferring to self-custody wallets, it may also be subject to taxation. This tax law was approved in June and is set to take effect on January 1, 2027. The Illinois Department of Revenue is seeking public comments on the draft, with a deadline of October 30.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Jeong Dae-sik, a representative of the People Power Party (the largest opposition party in South Korea), stated that the government needs to re-examine the establishment plan of the "Future Response Fund" funded by excess tax revenue, as well as the taxation system for virtual assets (digital assets).Jeong Dae-sik stated that excess tax revenue is temporary, and once spending increases, it is difficult to reduce. Therefore, priority should be given to alleviating the tax burden on the public. Regarding the taxation of virtual assets scheduled to be implemented in January next year, he called for a postponement or abolition, stating that forced taxation could lead to capital flowing to places like Hong Kong and Singapore.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett posted on the X platform, stating that although the CLARITY Act has been stalled in the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives will continue to advance several cryptocurrency-related legislations today. At 10 AM Eastern Time, the House Ways and Means Committee will review and amend a cryptocurrency tax bill.Meanwhile, the House Financial Services Committee will also begin reviewing several bills, including the House Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act proposed earlier this year by Congressman Nick Begich.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov stated that he has submitted comments to the UK HM Revenue and Customs, suggesting improvements to the tax positioning of cryptocurrency collateralized loans and stablecoins.At the same time, he advocates for allowing stablecoins to be included in UK Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) in the future, giving stablecoin lending users the opportunity to enjoy relevant tax benefits.

According to "Digital Assets," the number of signatures for the petition in the South Korean National Assembly to postpone the taxation of virtual assets by 2 years has exceeded 32,000. The threshold for the National Assembly petition is 50,000 signatures, and if an additional 18,000 signatures are collected before September 20, the petition will be formally submitted for review by the relevant standing committee.The reason for the petition is that taxing digital assets will lead to a significant decline in exchange revenues, which in turn will result in a decrease in corporate tax revenue. Currently, the government insists on implementing the taxation normally starting in January 2027, while the People Power Party opposes it, citing reasons such as inadequate infrastructure.