Reporting requirement, not an annual holdings tax
The proposal would bring crypto wallets held outside a crypto service provider under article 1649 bis C of France's tax code. That includes holdings on hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor. The reporting threshold would be based on their value on December 31 of the relevant tax year, and failure to disclose could carry a fine of up to €10,000.
The amendment creates a notification requirement rather than an annual tax on the assets reported, according to crypto.news. As Bitbo notes, using a year-end valuation means price movements alone could put a wallet above or below the threshold, even if its owner neither buys nor sells.
The text leaves the reporting details unresolved. It identifies neither the information holders would have to provide nor the pricing source for calculating euro values. Cryptoast, cited by Bitbo, suggested that disclosure could extend to public wallet addresses and the transaction histories associated with them. Critics have questioned the privacy implications of creating a registry of large holders.
Disagreement over fraud prevention and disclosure thresholds
Centrist deputy Charles de Courson submitted I-2701 with six colleagues from the LIOT parliamentary group, Libertés, Indépendants, Outre-mer et Territoires. The Assembly adopted it at the first-reading stage of the 2027 Finance Bill. According to Bitbo, its authors described cryptocurrency as a potential vehicle for fraud, citing €3.5 billion in realized gains in 2021 alongside just €400 million in holdings declared to the tax authority that year.
Public Action and Accounts Minister David Amiel opposed the self-custody disclosure proposals. He argued that someone committing fraud could simply withhold a declaration and favored obtaining information through intermediaries instead. Philippe Juvin, the Finance Committee's general rapporteur, backed disclosure in principle but questioned the basis for choosing a €5,000, €50,000 or €100,000 threshold.
On the evening I-2701 passed, lawmakers rejected Nicolas Sansu's alternative proposal for a €5,000 threshold. A separate attempt to require declarations of self-custody wallets at that level had previously won approval during consideration of an anti-fraud plan, but a joint committee later removed it, Bitbo reported.
The advocacy group Institut National de Bitcoin urged lawmakers to reject the reporting amendments in an October 28 research note. It also called for their removal in the Senate if adopted, distinguishing disclosure of ownership from reporting taxable gains and warning about the privacy implications of requirements that a future decree might set.
Other crypto tax proposals meet mixed outcomes
During the same session, the Assembly voted 69-14 against a tax exemption for gains on cryptocurrency spent on goods and services, according to its transcript. The proposal would have applied when those payments totaled no more than €1,000 in a tax year.
Two proposals rejected last week would have taxed unrealized crypto gains when taxpayers transferred their tax residence abroad. An earlier vote went the other way: on October 16, the Assembly approved an amendment taxing gains realized through conversions of cryptocurrency into stablecoins designated as electronic money tokens under European Union rules.
The budget process will determine what survives
The self-custody amendment remains part of a finance bill still being debated. The Assembly has until November 17 to complete its first reading, but lawmakers have twice delayed a vote on the budget's revenue section. That decision was originally scheduled for October 20; consideration of amendments has continued.
Faustine Fleuret, global head of public affairs at lending protocol Morpho, warned that the revenue section's likely rejection could cause the entire finance bill to fail in the Assembly. Cointelegraph similarly reported that such an outcome could sweep away provisions approved through amendments, including the crypto measures.
Senate deliberations are scheduled for November 20 through December 8, with a joint committee to follow, according to Bitbo. If the government invokes Article 49.3, it would decide which amendments to retain.
