Crypto Taxation: Tighter Regulations on the Horizon

Just like holders of checking accounts, savings accounts, or life insurance policies held abroad, investors must report their accounts holding cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, to the tax authorities.
 

Pursuant to Article 1649 bis C of the General Tax Code, “Individuals or legal entities domiciled or established in France are required to report, along with their income or profit tax return, the details of any digital asset accounts […] held, used, or closed with companies, legal entities, institutions, or organizations established abroad.” 

Given that most crypto account providers are based outside of France. This is the case for Binance, Bitpanda, and Coinbase.
 

Preferential Treatment
Nevertheless, to date, crypto investors who fail to comply with this requirement have received preferential treatment compared to other foreign accounts. Indeed, while the statute of limitations under general law is 10 years, the tax authorities have only 3 years to audit and adjust the tax returns of holders of foreign accounts containing digital assets.
 

Alignment of the Recovery Period
An amendment to the 2025 Finance Bill, introduced in part by two former ministers in Emmanuel Macron’s administration who are now serving as members of the National Assembly—namely, former Budget Minister Thomas Cazenave and former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal—corrects this differential treatment. Under this amendment, the recovery period for undeclared crypto accounts would be extended to 10 years.
 

This amendment was adopted with the endorsement of the current Minister of Public Accounts, Laurent Saint-Martin, and the General Rapporteur for the Budget, Charles de Courson. In other words, this dual endorsement paves the way for this change to be incorporated into the final finance bill should Article 49-3 be invoked to pass the 2025 budget. “The Finance Committee had expressed its support,” Charles de Courson noted. “Because this amendment […] would consist of aligning reporting requirements,” the general rapporteur explained.
 

A More Ambitious Amendment Failed to Pass
However, another amendment aimed at more generally aligning the legal treatment of failure to file in cases involving overseas crypto accounts did not receive support on November 7. Yet it had been proposed by an expert on the tax system and the drafting of budget legislation.
Thomas Cazenave was, in fact, the sole sponsor of this amendment, which would have, among other things, increased the taxes due by 80% in the event of a tax reassessment following the failure to report a crypto account. He was absent from the chamber on the afternoon of November 7, so his proposal was not put to a vote by the members of parliament.