French Crypto Tax Plan Would End Deferral For Some Stablecoin Swaps

France’s National Assembly has advanced a proposal to end tax deferral when crypto investors exchange their assets for certain stablecoins. Deputies adopted amendment I-3898 on 16th October during the first reading of the 2027 finance bill. It is an amendment to an unfinished budget, rather than a new tax already in force.

The Assembly’s current budget schedule places the vote on the revenue section on 3rd November, after further examination running from 27th October to 2nd November. Law firm ORWL’s assessment updated through 28th October also treats the stablecoin measure as provisional.

The proposed tax point moves inside the portfolio

France’s existing tax code generally defers taxation for exchanges between qualifying crypto assets without an additional cash payment. The relevant regime concerns individuals resident in France for tax purposes, subject to separate rules for professional profits.

The amendment would remove that deferral when the investor receives electronic money tokens, or rights relating to them. Under the European definition it cites, these are crypto assets designed to maintain a stable value by referencing one official currency. Its scope is that legal category, rather than every product described commercially as a stablecoin.

A qualifying swap could generate a taxable disposal while the investor still holds a token, without first receiving euros in a bank account. The adopted text would apply to disposals and exchanges from 1st January 2027 if retained in the final legislation.

The calculation changes as well

The same amendment would replace the current portfolio calculation with the difference between the disposal value and the acquisition cost of the assets sold. Where units of the same asset were acquired at different prices, it specifies their weighted average acquisition cost. The gain would consequently be calculated from the cost of the asset sold, rather than the current portfolio formula.

For illustration, an asset with an acquisition cost of €10,000 exchanged for electronic money tokens worth €14,000 would produce a €4,000 gross gain under that proposed subtraction, before fees and other applicable adjustments. That is an illustration of the amendment’s formula, not a calculation of an individual’s final tax bill. The token received would take the value used in that taxable exchange as its acquisition basis, subject to the text’s cash adjustment rules.

For assets acquired before 2027, the proposal’s transition rules permit either substantiated actual acquisition costs or an allocation of the portfolio’s total acquisition cost across holdings according to their values on 31st December 2026. The choice would be irrevocable for the whole portfolio when the first relevant tax return is filed.

The sponsors’ explanatory statement presents the measure as closing an unjustified deferral and bringing stablecoin conversions into existing taxation. ORWL argues against removing that deferral, saying frequent crypto to stablecoin exchanges would become difficult to declare and monitor. Its analysis also warns that rejection of the budget’s revenue section would send the government’s initial text to the Senate without this amendment unless senators restored it.