Korea backs framework to automatically exchange info on crypto transactions

Screens at the Bithumb CS Center in Gangnam, southern Seoul, show cryptocurrency markets in January. [NEWS1]

Korea jointly issued a statement Friday supporting a new international framework to automatically exchange information on crypto-asset transactions to ensure tax compliance.

Some 48 countries, including the United States, Britain and Japan, co-signed the statement, the Finance Ministry said.

In August 2022, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) approved the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which provides for reporting tax information on transactions in cyber assets in a standardized manner to automatically exchange such information among tax authorities.

The Group of 20 nations have expressed their support for the framework, with the OECD setting 2027 as a target year for its implementation.

On Friday, 48 nations, including Korea, issued a joint statement in which signees pledged to take prompt measures to implement the new framework and encouraged more countries to join.

"The widespread, consistent and timely implementation of the CARF will further improve our ability to ensure tax compliance and clamp down on tax evasion, which reduces public revenues and increases the burden on those who pay their taxes," the statement read.

The nations said they will work toward swiftly transposing the framework into their respective domestic laws and activating exchange agreements by 2027, which is meant to keep pace with the rapid development and growth of the crypto-asset market and to ensure that recent gains in global tax transparency will not be eroded.

"We invite other jurisdictions to join us with a view to enhancing the global system of automatic information exchange which leaves no hiding places for tax evasion," the statement said.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]