From January 2027, South Korea’s National Tax Service will be able to review cryptocurrency exchange accounts during inheritance and gift tax investigations. Virtual-asset businesses will be added to the comprehensive financial-asset inquiry system under the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act. Tax officials’ questioning and investigation powers will also extend to exchanges, meaning assets unknown to heirs or omitted from declarations can be identified.
The change closes a gap in the existing inheritance-finance inquiry service, which currently covers bank, securities and insurance accounts but not cryptocurrency holdings.