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French lawmakers narrowly vote to make crypto-to-stablecoin swaps taxable from 2027
Summary
France’s National Assembly adopted amendment I-3898 to the 2027 budget on Oct. 16 by 38 votes to 37, with 25 abstentions, a measure that would make swapping crypto into stablecoins a taxable event from Jan. 1, 2027, according to CoinDesk and Cointelegraph.
Under current French rules, crypto-to-crypto exchanges without a cash payment generally benefit from tax deferral; CoinDesk said the amendment removes that deferral when investors receive e-money tokens as defined by the EU’s MiCA rules, exposing gains to the default 31.4% rate even if nothing is withdrawn to a bank.
The measure is not law yet: it still has to pass the budget’s remaining parliamentary stages and could be amended or removed, CoinDesk said, and Cointelegraph reported that the Assembly on Monday postponed its vote on the first part of the 2027 Finance Bill.
Public Accounts Minister David Amiel asked for the amendment to be withdrawn, citing the need to first define stablecoins and be able to trace reallocations, CoinDesk reported.
Updates
- Update, : Oct. 20: Decrypt, citing the National Assembly’s vote record, said 100 deputies took part, leaving 75 votes cast and putting the amendment exactly at the 38 needed for a majority; it said the Assembly is due to vote on the budget’s full revenue section on Tuesday before the bill goes to the Senate.
Key facts
- Cointelegraph said the measure began as committee amendment I-CF1826 from MP Nicolas Sansu, adopted on Oct. 7.
- Both outlets said gains would be calculated from the acquisition cost of the crypto sold using a weighted average purchase price, replacing France’s portfolio-wide calculation.
- Finance committee rapporteur general Philippe Juvin said he favored keeping the deferral given crypto’s volatility, according to CoinDesk.
- Chainalysis regional sales director François Volpoet told CoinDesk the levy could push investors toward DeFi, peer-to-peer transactions and offshore exchanges outside international tax reporting.
- Cointelegraph said the Assembly rejected a proposal to carry forward realized crypto losses for 10 years (18 for, 75 against), while proposals to extend the exit tax to crypto portfolios above €800,000 (I-CF1822) and require declaring self-custodial wallets above €100,000 (I-2701) remain under consideration.
- Decrypt said the amendment would also make investors track a purchase price for each coin, averaged where bought more than once, with a one-off irrevocable choice of method for holdings bought before 2027.
- Decrypt said the amendment’s authors, led by Nicolas Sansu of the left-wing GDR group, argue that gains moved into stablecoins escape the flat tax through “a hole in the legislation” and that the UK and Italy already tax such swaps.
- A separate committee amendment would require holders to declare self-custodied crypto worth €100,000 or more at year-end, with fines of up to €10,000, Decrypt reported.