Crypto taxation in France: flat tax, thresholds, reporting

01Which regime applies to an individual

An individual who buys and sells crypto-assets occasionally, managing their own private assets, falls under the regime for capital gains on the disposal of digital assets (article 150 VH bis of the French tax code). This covers the large majority of users of crypto platforms.

Two other, rarer regimes exist: non-commercial profits (BNC) for numerous and sophisticated operations, carried out under conditions close to a professional activity without actually being one; and industrial and commercial profits (BIC) for a buy-resell activity genuinely carried out on a professional basis. The line is drawn based on the frequency of operations, the techniques used and the amounts involved, not on a single numeric threshold.

02How the capital gain is calculated

The calculation does not apply to a single transaction in isolation. At each taxable disposal, the capital gain is calculated on the entire crypto-asset portfolio held (across all platforms): sale price, minus a share of the total acquisition price of the portfolio, proportional to what this disposal represents in the portfolio's overall value at the time of sale. There is no FIFO/LIFO option as with other assets: it is a single calculation method, the same for everyone.

The exact formula and special cases (transfer between your own wallets, contribution to a company, etc.) are published on BOI-RPPM-PVBMC-30-20 ↗.

03The 305 € threshold

Below 305 € of cumulative disposals per year, there is no tax at all. Note the nature of this threshold: it applies to the total amount received from sales (the gross sale price), not to the net capital gain. A portfolio that makes no profit but multiplies back-and-forth trades can exceed this threshold and become taxable on its net capital gain, however small.

04The rate: 31.4% flat tax in 2026

Capital gains falling under article 150 VH bis are subject to the flat-rate withholding tax (PFU, known as the "flat tax"). Since 1 January 2026, this rate stands at 31.4%: 12.8% for income tax, and 18.6% in social contributions (the CSG share of social contributions rose from 9.2% to 10.6% on that date). An option to be taxed instead under the progressive income tax scale remains available, to be ticked when filing: it only becomes advantageous for a low marginal tax bracket.

05What triggers tax (and what doesn't)

Taxable events include: converting crypto-assets into euros (or any other legal tender), and buying a good or service by paying with crypto-assets. In both cases, this counts as a disposal for tax purposes.

Not taxable at the time it happens: converting one cryptocurrency into another (an exchange with no cash difference). Taxation is simply deferred: the latent capital gain reappears in the calculation the day you eventually convert to euros or to a good/service. A transfer between two wallets or platforms of which you remain the sole holder is not a disposal either.

06Filing: forms 2086 and 3916-bis

Form n° 2086 details the calculation of the overall capital gain (or loss) for the year; it is added to the standard income tax return as soon as at least one taxable disposal has taken place, even below the 305 € threshold if there were movements to report.

Form n° 3916-bis declares each account held on a platform established outside France, including an inactive or empty account as of 31 December. This is an easy point to miss precisely because it is counter-intuitive: a platform licensed under MiCA in another EU member state remains, from a French tax standpoint, a foreign platform. Being MiCA-compliant does not exempt you from this filing; failing to file exposes you to a fine, whether the account generated gains or not.

Full filing details are on the official page impots.gouv.fr ↗.

07Staking, mining, airdrops

These types of income follow rules distinct from the standard capital gain on disposal, and are more disputed in practice (treatment depends on the nature of the gain, the degree of technical involvement, and whether there is consideration in return). This article does not cover this case in detail, to avoid giving too general an answer on a point that depends heavily on individual circumstances. The BOI-RPPM-PVBMC-30-30 ↗ and a professional remain the right references.