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Crypto Law/Level VIII · Around the world/8.2 Europe/Lesson 4

France

France built Europe’s first national crypto-provider regime, now folded into MiCA, and taxes private crypto gains under a flat rate with its own portfolio method, a EUR 305 threshold and strict foreign-account reporting.

Education, not legal, tax or investment advice. Crypto law differs between countries and states and changes often. Check the current rules where you live with a qualified lawyer or tax adviser before you act.

The lean path

The cheapest, lowest-tax, simplest and most private route the law allows, best first. Each step names the rule it rests on and the condition that keeps it lawful.

  1. Swap freely between crypto-assets: exchanges without a cash balancing payment are deferred under Article 150 VH bis CGI. Catch: when you finally sell for euros or spend crypto, the gain is calculated on the whole portfolio’s acquisition cost.
  2. Keep total disposal proceeds to EUR 305 or less in a year and private gains are exempt. Catch: the threshold counts proceeds, not gains, and excludes deferred swaps.
  3. Choose the cheaper of the flat 31.4% rate (12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social levies from 2026) or the progressive scale by ticking box 3CN. Catch: the option covers crypto gains separately, and social levies still apply.
  4. Declare every account with a foreign platform each year on form 3916-3916-bis, even without sales. Catch: Article 1736 X CGI fines EUR 750 per undeclared account and EUR 125 per omission or inaccuracy.
  5. Stay an occasional investor, filing gains on form 2086. Catch: numerous, sophisticated professional-style operations, and mining or staking income, fall under non-commercial profits (BNC) at progressive rates.

MaterialsArticle 150 VH bis of the General Tax Code (CGI), on private disposals of digital assetsForm 2086 (crypto gains) and form 3916-3916-bis (accounts held abroad), from impots.gouv.frThe AMF’s register of authorised crypto-asset service providers and its blacklistLessons 3.3.2 and 8.2.1 on MiCA authorisation and national differences

Wonder

  1. Does swapping one crypto for another trigger tax in France?
  2. Do I have to declare an account on a foreign exchange even if I never sold anything?
  3. What happened to the French PSAN registrations once MiCA arrived?

Explore

  1. France regulated crypto firms before the EU did. The PACTE law of 22 May 2019 created the status of digital asset service provider (prestataire de services sur actifs numériques, PSAN), with mandatory registration with the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) for activities such as custody and buying or selling crypto for euros, and an optional fuller licence. Under MiCA, the AMF is the competent authority for crypto-asset service providers. France chose the maximum 18-month transition, so PSAN-registered firms could keep operating until 1 July 2026 (lesson 3.3.2). After that date a PSAN registration alone no longer allows a firm to serve French clients; it needs a MiCA authorisation from France or another member state.
  2. France has been the most vocal critic of uneven MiCA licensing. In September 2025 AMF chair Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani told Reuters ‘we do not exclude the possibility of refusing the EU passport’ for firms authorised elsewhere, and in a speech on 3 February 2026 she cited ESMA’s July 2025 peer review of a Maltese authorisation as evidence of divergent supervisory practices. France backed EU-level supervision, which the Commission proposed for all providers on 4 December 2025 and which the Council’s October 2026 position narrows to the most significant ones (lesson 8.2.1). The threat signals that France intends to look closely at firms passporting into its market from elsewhere.
  3. For a private individual, gains on digital assets are taxed under Article 150 VH bis CGI. The tax administration states the default rate as a flat 31.4%: 12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social levies, after the 2026 social security financing law (Law 2025-1403 of 30 December 2025) raised the social levies. The taxpayer may instead opt for the progressive income tax scale by ticking box 3CN, an option independent of the one for investment income. The taxable event is a sale for euros, or use of crypto to buy goods or services. Exchanges of one crypto-asset for another without a cash balancing payment are deferred (sursis d’imposition) and are not taxed when they happen.
  4. Two features set France apart. First, a private holder is exempt for a year in which total disposal proceeds, not gains, do not exceed EUR 305, excluding deferred exchanges. Second, the gain on each taxable sale is calculated on a whole-portfolio basis: the sale price minus a share of the total acquisition cost of the whole crypto portfolio, in proportion to what was sold relative to the portfolio’s overall value. Details go on form 2086. The administration treats people who trade under conditions similar to a professional, with numerous and sophisticated operations, as earning non-commercial profits (BNC) at progressive rates, and it also places mining and staking income in the BNC category.
  5. France requires residents to declare crypto accounts held with platforms abroad, under Article 1649 bis C CGI, even if nothing was sold, using form 3916-3916-bis or the online return. Under Article 1736 X CGI the fine is EUR 750 per undeclared wallet, and EUR 125 per omission or inaccuracy. From 2026, DAC8 reporting (lesson 8.2.2) will give the tax authority data from EU platforms, which makes unreported foreign accounts easier to detect. Data about crypto owners also has a physical-security side: in January 2025 Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife were kidnapped, and the Paris prosecutor said his hand had been mutilated before the couple were freed.
  6. Read together, French rules reward careful records and penalise silence. A holder who swaps freely between tokens owes nothing until converting to euros, but must then apply the portfolio formula using every past acquisition, and must declare each foreign account every year. Any firm must now hold a MiCA licence rather than relying on PSAN registration. A practical check for a French resident: list every platform account outside France, confirm it is on your return, and keep a running total of all acquisitions so that the portfolio calculation can be rebuilt if the tax office asks.

Key facts

  • The PACTE law of 22 May 2019 created France’s PSAN status, with mandatory AMF registration for crypto custody and crypto-for-euro services.
  • France applied the full 18-month MiCA transition, which ended on 1 July 2026.
  • French tax authorities state the flat rate on private crypto gains as 31.4%, made up of 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social levies.
  • Crypto-to-crypto exchanges without a cash balancing payment are deferred from tax in France.
  • A French private holder is exempt for a year in which total crypto disposal proceeds do not exceed EUR 305.
  • Article 1736 X CGI fines EUR 750 for each undeclared foreign crypto wallet and EUR 125 for each omission or inaccuracy.

Exercise nine, six, three, one

9CollectList up to 9 crypto accounts and transactions you had while resident in France, or in a French example you know, noting each sale for euros, swap and foreign platform.
6ClusterSort them into 6 groups: sales for euros, purchases paid in crypto, crypto-to-crypto swaps, foreign accounts, mining or staking income, and gaps in acquisition records.
3DistillReduce the 6 to 3: the items that would change the tax due or trigger a reporting fine.
1CrystallizeWrite 1 sentence stating which French rule, the portfolio formula, the EUR 305 threshold or foreign-account reporting, most affects your situation.

Fact check

Dates, figures and claims checked against the published sources listed below.

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