South Korean Committee Takes Up Bill to Scrap Crypto Tax Ahead of 2027 Deadline

Committee review begins

According to Edaily, the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a plenary meeting at 10 a.m. in Yeouido, Seoul, on July 29 to take up an amendment to the Income Tax Act that would abolish crypto taxation. The referral places the issue before a standing committee and sets the stage for a wider debate between the ruling and opposition camps over whether the tax should ultimately be implemented.

The session is the committee’s first plenary meeting since the second-half roster for the 22nd National Assembly was completed on July 23. Alongside the tax bill, the committee is also due to receive work reports from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Budget, and the Bank of Korea, before moving to questions on current issues.

Key officials expected at the session include Koo Yun-cheol, deputy prime minister for economic affairs and minister of economy and finance, Park Hong-keun, minister of planning and budget, and Shin Hyun-song, governor of the Bank of Korea.

What the amendment would change

The amendment was submitted on March 19 by Song Eon-seok of the People Power Party, who was then serving as floor leader. Its main provision would remove the section on income from virtual assets in Article 21(1)27 of the current Income Tax Act.

If adopted, that change would erase the legal basis for imposing tax on crypto-related income. The bill therefore goes beyond another delay and instead seeks to strike the relevant taxable category from the law itself.

Next steps in the Assembly

After the plenary session, the proposal is expected to move to the Strategy and Finance Committee’s tax subcommittee for more detailed examination. That stage is likely to be central to how lawmakers handle the broader question of whether crypto taxation should still begin in January 2027 or be abandoned through legislative revision.

The committee is also set to consider public sentiment around the issue through a separate process. A petition calling for the abolition of crypto taxation, which attracted support from more than 50,000 people, will be reviewed independently by the committee’s petition review subcommittee.

Political backdrop

The bill comes from South Korea’s opposition bloc, adding a political dimension to the legislative process as parties prepare to argue over the future of digital-asset taxation. For now, the referral does not settle the issue, but it formally opens committee-level scrutiny of a proposal that would cancel the current tax framework before it takes effect.

The immediate significance lies in procedure: a bill filed in March has now entered substantive parliamentary review, with ministries and the central bank present as lawmakers resume work under the newly completed committee structure.