French lawmakers back stablecoin swap tax in 2027 budget bill

What happened

The full Assembly is scheduled to begin examining the 2027 Finance Bill on Tuesday, Oct. An exit tax amendment adopted Thursday would cover unrealized gains when taxpayers with household crypto holdings worth more than 800,000 euros ($895,000) transfer their residences abroad.

Unlike France’s proposed tax on conversions, the Greek proposal would leave crypto-to-crypto exchanges untaxed. France’s Finance Committee backed taxes on stablecoin (a digital token meant to hold a fixed value, usually one dollar) swaps, as well as unrealized crypto gains when households with more than 800,000 euros move abroad.

France’s National Assembly Finance Committee approved proposals this week to tax swaps into fiat-pegged stablecoins and extend the country’s exit tax to crypto investors. The explanatory text describes the current tax treatment as a “loophole in the legislation,” according to a machine translation.

Taxable gains would be calculated using the acquisition (one company buying another) cost of the assets disposed of, with a weighted average for holdings of the same token bought at different prices. If enacted, investors could incur capital gains taxes without cashing out into fiat.