French Lawmakers Advance Crypto Tax Amendments Before Rejecting Budget Revenue Plan

Highlights

France’s National Assembly Finance Committee adopted amendments that would tax certain crypto-to-stablecoin swaps from Jan. 1, 2027, extend the exit tax to qualifying crypto holdings worth more than €800,000, and let investors carry crypto losses forward for 10 years. The committee subsequently rejected the budget’s revenue section on Oct. 9 by 31 votes to 3. As a result, the measures do not automatically carry into the Assembly debate: supporters would need to table them again. None of the amendments is law, and the Assembly’s revenue-section debate is scheduled to begin Oct. 13, with a vote on Oct. 20.

Sentiment Analysis

• Overall sentiment: Mixed and procedural. The account reports committee approval for three proposed tax changes, but that progress is tempered by the committee’s rejection of the budget revenue section. The amendments remain proposals, not enacted rules, and their future depends on renewed consideration by the full Assembly.
• Policy implications: The measures would broaden the circumstances in which crypto holdings are taxed, while the loss carryforward provision could offer investors a way to offset later gains. The proposed treatment of stablecoin swaps and crypto held by people moving abroad is framed as an effort to align digital assets with existing tax principles.
• Uncertainty: The article does not establish that any proposal will pass. It describes the next legislative steps and the need for supporters to reintroduce the amendments.
• Visual reading: The bar reflects a mixed assessment, with meaningful policy movement counterbalanced by uncertainty about whether the proposals will advance.

Article Text

France’s National Assembly Finance Committee adopted several amendments concerning the taxation of cryptocurrency, including proposals on stablecoin swaps, crypto holdings belonging to people who move abroad, and the treatment of losses. The decisions marked progress for the amendments within the committee, but did not make them law. On Oct. 9, the committee rejected the budget’s revenue section by 31 votes to 3. Consequently, the full Assembly is due to begin its debate from the government’s original text, rather than from a version incorporating the committee’s crypto proposals.

The amendments would therefore need to be tabled again during the Assembly debate, which begins Oct. 13. A formal vote on the revenue section is scheduled for Oct. 20. The legislative outcome remains uncertain, and the committee’s approval alone does not establish that any of the proposed measures will take effect.

One amendment, filed by Nicolas Sansu of the left-wing GDR group with 16 co-signers, would change the tax treatment of certain swaps into stablecoins. Stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to track a single official currency, such as the dollar or euro. Under the current treatment described by the amendment’s authors, exchanging Bitcoin for a stablecoin does not trigger tax in France. Tax is generally collected when gains are converted into regular money or used for spending.

The proposal covers electronic money tokens defined under MiCA, the European Union’s crypto rulebook, a category that includes most stablecoins tied to a single currency. It would treat a qualifying swap into one of these tokens as a sale from Jan. 1, 2027. The taxable gain would be measured against the amount the holder originally paid. The amendment does not specify a new tax rate; it points instead to France’s existing flat tax.

That flat tax rose to 31.4% on Jan. 1 after the 2026 social-security financing law increased the social-charge portion from 17.2% to 18.6%. The amendment’s authors say their proposal would not create a new tax burden, but would apply existing law to a transaction they regard as currently overlooked. They argue that stablecoins can function as investment vehicles because they can be used to pay for services at crypto providers or to acquire other tokens. In their view, allowing a gain to avoid taxation merely because it was swapped into a stablecoin is not justified.

A second amendment from Sansu would extend France’s exit tax to crypto. Exit tax applies to gains that have not yet been realized when a taxpayer moves their tax residence abroad. Under the proposal, it would apply to a tax household whose combined crypto holdings are worth more than €800,000, including assets held through custodians. The taxpayer would also need to have been a French tax resident for at least six of the previous 10 years. The proposed rules would cover moves from Jan. 1, 2027.

The €800,000 threshold matches the threshold already used for shares, and the proposal borrows payment-deferral rules from the stock regime. Cryptocurrency-to-cryptocurrency swaps without a cash component would not count as sales for exit-tax purposes. Taxpayers moving abroad would have to submit a statement listing all crypto held on the date of the move, including assets held abroad and assets in self-custody. Self-custody refers to wallets controlled directly by their owners rather than held through an exchange.

The amendment’s authors argue that crypto held directly is currently outside the exit tax, while shares of the same value are covered. They also point to the ease with which digital assets can move across borders. The proposal would make the declared value of qualifying crypto holdings relevant when a taxpayer changes residence, even if those holdings have not been sold.

A separate amendment from Daniel Labaronne also received committee approval. It would allow investors to carry crypto losses forward for 10 years and use them to offset future gains, as investors can already do with stock losses. The article says unused crypto losses cannot currently be carried over.

The proposed changes follow other efforts to include digital assets in French tax policy. In late October 2025, the Assembly adopted, at first reading, an amendment by 163-150 that would establish a 1% annual levy on “unproductive” wealth above €2 million. The measure grouped digital assets with gold and yachts. Attorney Burçak Ünsal told Decrypt that taxing early token holders could be “economically unjust.”

MiCA compliance has also affected stablecoin availability in Europe. Coinbase said in October 2024 that it would delist stablecoins that failed to comply with MiCA for European customers by Dec. 30, directing users toward compliant coins such as USDC and EURC. The French tax amendments, if reintroduced and ultimately enacted, would apply on the proposed timetable from Jan. 1, 2027. For now, their fate depends on the forthcoming Assembly debate and vote.

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