Bithumb Crypto Exchange Reportedly Considers Litigating $68.9M Tax Bill

Major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is reportedly looking to undertake administrative litigation over an $68.9 million (80 billion won) tax bill.

English-language local news outlet KoreaHerald reported on Dec. 29 that the local tax agency has handed down over 80 billion won in taxation on the exchange.

A first occurrence of its kind in South Korea

The outlet notes that according to documents published by Bithumb’s largest shareholder Vidente via the financial supervisory services, the National Tax Service forced the exchange to pay the withholding taxes on trading activities of foreign customers. Vidente reportedly found out about the tax earlier this week, after acquiring a 34.24% stake in the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange.

KoreaHerald explains that a foreign corporation that has no permanent establishment in South Korea has to pay withholding tax. Still, such taxation rules have not yet been applied to the cryptocurrency trading industry. While abiding the ruling, Bithumb plans to put up a fight to avoid paying the bill and considers an administrative litigation.

Cointelegraph has reached out to Bithumb for comment but the exchange has not responded at the time of writing.

2019 for Bithumb

This has been a difficult year for Bithumb. In June, the exchange was prosecuted for its alleged failure to take adequate measures to protect personal information, which was later presumably exploited by hackers to steal funds from the platform. In March, Bithumb has seen over million EOS (about $12.5 million at the time) siphoned from its hot wallet in a hack.

As Cointelegraph explained in a dedicated in-depth piece, this year has seen significant developments when it comes to cryptocurrency taxation. It seems that countries around the world realized cryptocurrencies are here to stay and adjusted their crypto tax policies as a result in order not to miss out on the revenues.