France’s proposed crypto exit tax could require wealthy investors to pay tax on unrealised cryptocurrency gains when they move abroad, under amendments backed by the National Assembly’s finance committee as lawmakers examine the country’s 2027 budget.
The proposal would extend France’s existing exit tax to cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and other digital assets, from January 1, 2027. It would apply to qualifying taxpayers whose combined crypto holdings exceed EUR 800,000, bringing digital assets into a system that already covers shares and other securities held by people leaving the country.
The committee also backed a separate measure that would require taxpayers to declare certain self-custody crypto wallets, with fines of up to EUR 10,000 for failing to comply. Other amendments would change how stablecoin transactions and cryptocurrency losses are treated for tax purposes.
None of these measures has become law. The amendments must be submitted again for debate and voted on by the full National Assembly as part of the 2027 budget process.
Under France’s existing exit tax rules, people who have been tax residents in France for at least six of the previous ten years may be liable for tax on unrealised gains when they leave the country, provided their shareholdings and other securities meet the relevant EUR 800,000 threshold or ownership test. The proposed amendment would extend the framework to crypto-assets, using the same EUR 800,000 value threshold for a household’s cryptocurrency holdings.
The proposed rules would cover digital assets held through foreign platforms as well as cryptocurrencies stored in self-custody wallets, where investors control their own private keys rather than relying on an exchange or other service provider.
As with the existing exit tax, payment could be deferred for people relocating within the European Union and certain other countries. The proposed framework would also allow the tax to be cancelled if the assets are retained for a period of two to five years, according to the amendment’s terms.
However, the proposal does not specify a tax rate or clarify how social charges would apply to crypto gains. Under the existing system for departing shareholders, social charges account for 18.6 percentage points of the overall 31.4% rate cited in the proposal’s supporting material. The final tax burden for cryptocurrency holders therefore remains uncertain.
Communist MP Nicolas Sansu and 16 other left-wing lawmakers are sponsoring the amendment. They argue that cryptocurrencies should not receive different treatment from conventional securities when investors hold assets of comparable value and leave France. In their view, excluding crypto from the exit tax could create an opportunity for wealthy taxpayers to avoid a levy that applies to other investments.
A separate amendment proposed by centrist MP Charles de Courson would introduce a declaration requirement for self-custody wallets worth a combined EUR 100,000 or more at the end of the tax year. Taxpayers who fail to declare qualifying wallets could face fines of up to EUR 10,000.
Under the current rules described in the proposal, French taxpayers must report crypto accounts held on foreign platforms, but the same requirement does not generally apply to wallets they control themselves. Supporters of the change want the authorities to have a clearer picture of digital assets held outside conventional financial institutions.
Backers of the proposed measures have pointed to concerns about cryptocurrency-related tax fraud and underreporting. A parliamentary inquiry cited an estimate that French investors made around EUR 3.5 billion in crypto gains in 2021 but declared only EUR 400 million in holdings. France’s Court of Audit subsequently clarified that the EUR 400 million figure referred to declared gains, rather than the value of cryptocurrency holdings. The distinction matters because gains and the total value of assets measure different things.
The proposed wallet register has also raised concerns about the security of investors’ personal information. Cryptocurrency holders can be attractive targets for criminals because digital assets may be transferred quickly and, in some circumstances, recovered funds can be difficult to trace. Critics of expanded disclosure requirements warn that sensitive information about wallet ownership could put investors at risk if it were leaked or accessed by criminals.
Those concerns come amid a series of violent crimes linked to cryptocurrency in France. Police counted more than 40 crypto-related kidnappings between January and mid-April, following approximately 30 cases during the whole of 2025, according to the figures cited in the original report.
One of the most prominent cases involved David Balland, co-founder of French cryptocurrency hardware wallet company Ledger, and his partner. They were kidnapped in January 2025, and Balland suffered the loss of a finger during the ordeal as the kidnappers sought a cryptocurrency ransom. Police later freed the couple. The case brought renewed attention to the physical security risks faced by people believed to own substantial digital assets.
Another amendment sponsored by Sansu would change the tax treatment of cryptocurrency swaps. Under the proposal, exchanging one cryptocurrency for a stablecoin could become a taxable event from 2027. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a relatively stable value, often by tracking a currency such as the US dollar.
France currently generally taxes cryptocurrency gains when investors convert their crypto into traditional currency or use it to pay for goods and services. The proposed change would extend taxation to certain exchanges into stablecoins, applying the existing 31.4% flat tax on crypto gains cited in the amendment’s supporting material. The proposal does not specify a separate rate for these transactions.
Lawmakers also backed a measure that would allow investors to offset cryptocurrency losses against gains for up to ten years. Another amendment would increase the proposed penalty for failing to provide documents requested by the tax authorities from EUR 10,000 to EUR 50,000 per request. The government’s budget bill would apply that penalty to financial institutions, cryptocurrency companies and online platforms.
Not every proposed change received committee support. Lawmakers rejected a broader wealth tax that would have included cryptocurrency assets, as well as an amendment from centre-right MP Paul Midy that would have exempted up to EUR 1,000 a year in cryptocurrency payments from tax.
The future of the proposals now depends on the wider budget debate. On Friday, the finance committee rejected the revenue section of the government’s 2027 budget bill by 31 votes to three. Under France’s constitutional budget procedure, the full National Assembly must debate the government’s original budget, while changes approved by the committee are generally put forward again as amendments.
Because the revenue section was rejected, the committee’s changes will not automatically carry into the next stage. Lawmakers must reintroduce the cryptocurrency amendments when debate resumes, beginning on Tuesday. A further vote on the revenue section is scheduled for October 20, followed by a vote on the full budget bill on November 17 before it proceeds to the Senate.
The process leaves the cryptocurrency proposals exposed to further changes, rejection or delays. During the previous year’s budget debate, lawmakers rejected the revenue section by 404 votes to one, wiping out the committee’s amendments in that part of the bill.
Parliament has until December 10 to pass the 2027 budget. If the deadline is not met, the government can enact the budget through an ordinance under the applicable constitutional procedure.
The debate is taking place as France faces pressure over public finances and rising borrowing costs. The country’s 10-year borrowing costs briefly exceeded 5% this month, their highest level since 2002, according to the original report. With political parties also looking towards the presidential election scheduled for spring 2027, the minority government faces a difficult legislative process.
For cryptocurrency investors, the immediate question is not whether the proposed exit tax or wallet declaration fines will apply, but whether the measures survive the parliamentary process and what their final terms will be. Until lawmakers approve the relevant provisions, the proposed EUR 800,000 threshold, wallet reporting requirement and changes to crypto taxation remain legislative proposals rather than new legal obligations.
