South Korea2026.10.13Digital Asset

National Tax Service: "Crypto Hard Forks and Airdrops Are Taxable if They Have the Character of a Transfer or Lending"

• NTS Commissioner Im Gwang-hyun made the remarks on October 13 at a National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee audit of the NTS held at the Government Complex Sejong.
• Responding to a question from People Power Party lawmaker Im Yi-ja about whether hard forks and airdrops are taxable, Commissioner Im said such transactions "should be considered taxable if they have the character of a transfer or lending."
• Im added that tax treatment should be determined by the economic substance of each type of digital asset transaction rather than its label, and that ambiguous cases like staking need further discussion with the Ministry of Economy and Finance.