Crypto taxation in France in 2026: the essential rules

Taxation of digital assets often appears more complicated than it really is. The difficulty mainly comes from the number of transactions, accounts spread across several services and persistent confusion between average cost, capital gains and the value of disposals.

For an individual managing private wealth in France, the general principle can be summarised as follows: tax mainly arises when a digital asset is exchanged for currency, goods or services. The calculation is then made across the portfolio as a whole.

This article presents the key rules that apply in 2026. It is educational and does not replace an assessment of an individual situation, especially where there is professional activity, mining, significant staking, complex products or numerous DeFi transactions.

An essential clarification about dates

The return filed in spring 2026 covers transactions carried out in 2025.

Private capital gains realised in 2025 are in principle subject to an overall rate of 30%, comprising 12.8% income tax and 17.2% social contributions.

For disposals from 1 January 2026, the overall flat rate increased to 31.4%, comprising 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social contributions. These transactions will normally be reported in 2027.

The distinction between the year of disposal and the year of filing prevents a common error: applying the new rate to transactions from the previous year.

What is a taxable disposal?

Under the regime for individuals, a disposal generally becomes taxable when a digital asset is used to obtain something other than another digital asset.

The most common situations are:

• selling digital assets for euros or another currency
• buying goods or services with digital assets
• using digital assets to acquire an asset outside the digital-asset regime

Paying for a computer, a journey or a service in bitcoin is therefore a disposal. Not receiving euros directly does not remove the tax event.

Which transactions generally do not trigger immediate tax?

Exchanges between digital assets without a cash adjustment

An exchange of one digital asset for another, without an additional cash payment, is in principle tax-deferred.

A swap between two tokens therefore does not automatically trigger a capital-gains calculation at the time of the exchange. Records must nevertheless be retained, because acquisitions and movements will affect future calculations.

Transfers between your own accounts

Moving assets from an exchange to a personal wallet, or from one wallet to another, is not a sale. You must nevertheless be able to show that both addresses or accounts belong to you.

Network fees associated with these transfers can complicate record-keeping. Retaining transaction identifiers and platform exports is advisable.

The €305 threshold: what it really means

The threshold does not relate to the gain. It relates to the total disposal prices for taxable transactions carried out by the tax household during the year.

Example:

• a €150 sale of digital assets in March
• the purchase of a service worth €100 in June
• a €60 sale in November

Total disposals amount to €310. The €305 threshold is exceeded, even if the actual gain is small.

When total disposals do not exceed €305, the overall capital gain is exempt. This does not necessarily mean that no information will be required in the return: the form may still request the amount of exempt disposal proceeds.

The right approach is therefore to track every transaction, even when the amount seems small.

How is the capital gain calculated?

France uses a portfolio-wide method. It does not simply calculate the difference between the sale price of a token and that token’s individual average purchase price.

The general formula is:

The total portfolio value is the value of all digital assets held at the time of the taxable disposal, on platforms and in personal wallets.

A simplified example

You have invested a total of €10,000 in acquiring digital assets.

At the time of a sale, your portfolio is worth €15,000. You sell part of your assets for €3,000.

The proportion of acquisition capital attached to the sale is:

The gain on the disposal is therefore:

This method explains why an asset’s average cost remains useful for managing a position, but is not sufficient to establish a French taxable gain.

Can losses be carried forward?

Under the regime for individuals, digital-asset losses offset gains of the same type realised during the same year.

If the annual overall result is negative, the loss cannot be carried forward to subsequent years. It is therefore incorrect to apply automatically to digital assets the carry-forward rule used for certain securities.

Which forms are generally involved?

The filing may include:

• Form 2086, detailing disposals and calculating the overall gain or loss
• Form 3916-bis for certain digital-asset accounts opened, held, used or closed with entities established abroad
• the relevant boxes in the main tax return to report the result

A platform’s position must be examined by looking at the entity that provides the account, not merely the brand displayed in the application. The same brand may use different companies depending on the country and service.

Staking, mining, airdrops and DeFi income

Not all income connected with digital assets necessarily falls within the capital-gains regime for disposals.

Mining and staking income may be treated as non-commercial profits depending on the circumstances and the nature of the amounts received. DeFi rewards, airdrops, loans, derivatives and professional transactions may require a separate assessment.

It would be misleading for a general article to give a single rule for all these situations. When income becomes regular, significant or technically complex, its treatment should be checked.

DAC8: what changes from 2026

The European DAC8 Directive provides for the exchange of information on crypto-asset transactions.

Transactions within the scheme are collected from 1 January 2026. Reporting is annual, during the year following the period concerned. The first information relating to 2026 must therefore be reported in 2027.

It would be excessive to conclude that the tax authority instantly knows about every wallet and transaction from 2026. The broader direction is nevertheless clear: platforms collect more information and exchanges between tax authorities are increasing.

The right strategy is not to speculate about what the authorities can see. It is to maintain a clean and coherent record.

MiCA and tax: two different subjects

MiCA governs the issuers of certain crypto-assets and service providers operating in the European Union.

French tax law determines how a taxpayer’s transactions are taxed.

A MiCA-authorised platform will not necessarily calculate a French tax return. Similarly, a provider’s regulatory status does not automatically change the tax treatment of each transaction.

The two frameworks complement one another, but answer different questions.

How to prepare a return before the deadline

Centralise transaction histories

Download CSV exports and statements before closing an account or changing platform.

Identify your wallets

Keep a list of the addresses used and note their purpose. This makes it possible to distinguish a personal transfer from a disposal.

Reconstruct values at the time of each disposal

The French formula requires the total portfolio value at each taxable disposal. This is difficult to reconstruct months later if the data is scattered.

Check for duplicates

A transfer may appear as an outflow on a platform and an inflow to a wallet. It should not be counted as two separate economic transactions.

Retain supporting records

Keep exports, invoices, bank-transfer records, transaction identifiers and the valuation methods used.

What role can a portfolio tracker play?

A tracker can consolidate quantities, monitor average prices and display performance. It can also make it easier to verify transaction histories.

The AflimBroohm.com Portfolio Tracker works locally and calculates the weighted average cost of assets. It is not designed to produce the French tax form automatically or replace specialist software or a professional.

That limitation should be stated clearly. It strengthens the tool’s credibility rather than reducing its value.

Errors to avoid

• believing that the €305 threshold concerns profit
• counting a crypto-to-crypto swap as a sale for euros
• forgetting purchases of goods or services
• calculating tax using only the average cost of the token sold
• automatically carrying a loss into the following year
• omitting accounts or wallets from total portfolio value
• waiting until filing season to download histories

In summary

For an individual, French crypto tax rests on three ideas: identify taxable disposals, track total portfolio value and retain supporting records.

The €305 threshold concerns the value of disposals. Exchanges between digital assets without a cash adjustment are generally tax-deferred. Losses offset gains during the same year, without a subsequent carry-forward.

In 2026, the strengthening of MiCA and the launch of DAC8 make sound data management even more important. Simple organisation throughout the year prevents most difficulties at filing time.