Crypto Exchange Bithumb May Legally Challenge $68.90mln. Tax Bill

Popular South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is looking at the option of filing a case over a $68.90 million (80 billion won) tax demand.

In this regard, English language version of KoreaHerald reported yesterday that the domestic tax agency has issued a notice demanding 80 billion won as tax for the exchange operations.

The media news outlet points out that as per documents released by Bithumb’s biggest shareholder Vidente through the financial supervisory services, the National Tax Service, pushed the exchange to settle the withholding taxes on trading operations of overseas clients.

Vidente supposedly discovered about the tax obligation last week, after purchasing a 32.24% stake in the holding company of the cryptocurrency exchange.

KoreaHerald elaborates that an overseas corporation that does not have permanent address in South Korea is liable to pay withholding tax. Nevertheless, such taxation guidelines are yet to be implemented in the crypto trading sector. While following the directive, Bithumb intends to challenge the order by filing a case against the tax bill and avoid the tax.

Bithumb had a tough 2019. In June, the exchange was held accountable for its perceived shortcomings in taking requisite action to safeguard personal data, which was subsequently taken advantage by hackers to loot funds from the platform. In March, Bithumb lost more than million EOS (roughly $12.50 million at that moment) in a hot wallet hack.

In 2019, considerable changes happened as far as crypto taxation is concerned. Across the globe, many nations have become aware that cryptos are likely to remain and so modified their crypto tax regulations in order to generate revenue from the fast growing sector.