South Korea's National Tax Service will hold the first meeting of a 12-member advisory committee on Aug. 24 as it prepares detailed rules for taxing virtual asset gains from Jan. 1 next year. The panel, finalized on Aug. 7, is expected to help define acquisition-cost calculation methods and tax treatment for complex transaction types including staking, airdrops, hard forks and token swaps before the tax agency issues a regulatory notice in October. The NTS required advisers to sign strict non-disclosure agreements covering the committee's membership, meeting schedule and discussions, an unusual level of secrecy that has drawn criticism because the rules could affect about 13 million investors. Under current law, gains from virtual asset transfers and lending will be taxed as miscellaneous income at 22% on annual amounts above 2.5 million won from next year, but major disputes remain over the low deduction threshold, the lack of loss carryforward and how to value or classify newer forms of crypto activity. The unresolved framework has also fueled concerns that trading could shift to overseas exchanges, decentralized platforms or listed companies with large crypto holdings, while political clashes over whether to proceed, delay or scrap the tax are expected to intensify in the National Assembly.