France’s National Assembly Finance Committee has adopted an amendment that would treat certain conversions of cryptocurrencies into MiCA-regulated stablecoins as taxable events starting in 2027.
The measure, filed as part of the Projet de loi de finances pour 2027 (trans: Draft budget bill for 2027), remains subject to further debate in the full chamber and has not yet become law.
On October 7, 2026, the Finance Committee of the Assemblée nationale adopted Amendement n° I-CF1826, deposited four days earlier by Deputy Nicolas Sansu of the Gauche Démocrate et Républicaine group and 16 co-signers. The amendment targets Article 150 VH bis of the General Tax Code, which currently allows most crypto-to-crypto exchanges—including those involving stablecoins—to defer capital gains taxation until the assets are converted into euros or spent on goods and services.
Under the proposal, this deferral would no longer apply when the recipient asset is an “electronic money token” as defined in point 7 of paragraph 1 of Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. In practice, this covers many fiat-backed stablecoins pegged to a single official currency.
The explanatory memorandum describes the existing treatment as a “hole in the legislation,” arguing that such stablecoins function as ordinary investment vehicles that can be used for payments or further crypto purchases. The authors note that the United Kingdom and Italy have already moved to treat similar conversions as taxable.
The change would take effect for transactions occurring from January 1, 2027. It does not create a new tax rate; any resulting gains would fall under France’s existing flat tax on crypto capital gains, currently set at 31.4% (comprising income tax and social charges).
Mechanics of the Proposed Calculation
The amendment also revises how acquisition costs are determined. Instead of the current portfolio-wide approach, the gain on a disposal would be calculated on an asset-by-asset basis. For holdings of the same type of crypto-asset acquired at different prices, the taxpayer would use a weighted-average acquisition cost.
Transitional rules address portfolios held before the start date. Taxpayers could either reconstruct the actual acquisition price of each asset (justified by any means) or allocate the total portfolio cost as of December 31, 2026 across the assets held on that date, in proportion to their then-current values. The choice would be irrevocable for the entire portfolio and would be made with the first tax return reporting a taxable disposal after January 1, 2027.
The text further provides that the acquisition cost of a MiCA electronic money token received in such a taxable exchange would equal the value used to compute the gain on the outgoing assets, preventing double taxation when the stablecoin is later converted to euros.
These technical adjustments appear in the full text of Amendement n° I-CF1826 published by the Assemblée nationale. The committee’s subsequent report on the finance bill, deposited on October 10, reflects the adoption of this and several other crypto-related amendments during its examination of the first part of the bill.
Path Through the Full Assembly and Wider European Context
Because the Finance Committee rejected the revenue section of the government’s original text by a wide margin on October 9, the amendments do not automatically proceed. Plenary debate in the full Assemblée nationale began on October 13 and is scheduled to continue through October 19, with a solemn vote on the revenue section expected around October 20. Any surviving provisions must still clear the Senate and, if necessary, a joint committee before the budget can be enacted.
The proposal arrives amid broader European efforts to align tax treatment of crypto-assets with existing financial rules. France has already implemented significant portions of MiCA, and several euro-area issuers—including Circle’s French entity—have obtained authorizations that allow their tokens to operate as regulated electronic money tokens.
At the same time, the European Securities and Markets Authority has instructed national authorities to require crypto-asset service providers to cease offering services linked to non-compliant stablecoins within a defined timeframe, a development that could accelerate migration toward authorized tokens.
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Other member states are also adjusting their frameworks. Greece has opened a public consultation on a draft bill that would introduce a dedicated 10% flat tax on crypto capital gains, with an annual exemption threshold, while Germany has floated proposals to end the current one-year holding-period exemption for assets acquired from 2027 onward.
France’s amendment would not alter the tax treatment of exchanges between non-stablecoin crypto-assets, nor would it impose tax on the later conversion of the received stablecoin into euros if the cost basis has already been stepped up.
Whether the measure ultimately survives the remaining stages of the 2027 budget process will depend on the outcome of the ongoing plenary debates. Until a final text is adopted and promulgated, crypto holders in France continue to operate under the existing rules that generally defer taxation on crypto-to-crypto swaps.
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