South Korea's National Tax Service plans to release an announcement on virtual asset taxation standards in November.

On October 14 that according to Yonhap News Agency, Lim Kwang-hyun, Director General of the South Korean National Tax Service, stated during a state audit by the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Committee that the agency is making preparations to release an announcement outlining taxation standards for virtual assets in November.

Lim noted that for transaction categories such as airdrops, hard forks, staking, and decentralized finance (DeFi), the taxation standards prioritize economic substance over transaction format, with the key determinant being whether the activity constitutes a transfer or a loan; if airdrops and hard forks involve transfer or lending characteristics, they should be treated as taxable objects, while certain detailed provisions regarding staking still require coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Concerning the progress of tax system development for the five domestic virtual asset exchanges, the National Tax Service is maintaining communication at the working level; even with the implementation of the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), on-chain blind spots such as peer-to-peer wallet transactions will continue to present challenges to global tax regulation, underscoring the need for sustained international cooperation.