French lawmakers back stablecoin swap tax in 2027 budget bill

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.

Amendment I-CF1826, submitted by French MP Nicolas Sansu and adopted Wednesday, would make crypto conversions into fiat-pegged stablecoins taxable events from Jan. 1, 2027.

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 cost of the assets disposed of, with a weighted average for holdings of the same token bought at different prices.

The full Assembly is scheduled to begin examining the 2027 Finance Bill on Tuesday, Oct. 13. If enacted, investors could incur capital gains taxes without cashing out into fiat.

MP Daniel Labaronne’s Amendment I-CCF798, also adopted Wednesday, would allow investors to carry forward realized crypto losses for 10 years. 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.

Related: ‘No going back’ for institutions moving toward tokenized onchain future, says Fidelity

European crypto tax proposals take different approaches

On Wednesday, Greece’s Ministry of National Economy and Finance published a draft bill proposing a 10% tax on individuals’ crypto capital gains, with an exemption for annual gains of up to 500 euros ($560).

Unlike France’s proposed tax on conversions, the Greek proposal would leave crypto-to-crypto exchanges untaxed.

France and other European Union members must apply the bloc’s tax reporting rules under the eighth amendment to the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC8).

DAC8 requires crypto service providers to collect users’ identities and transaction data and report them to national tax authorities, which then exchange the information with their counterparts across EU member states. The crypto reporting requirements began applying on Jan. 1, 2026. The first exchanges of information covering 2026 transactions are due by Sept. 2027.

Magazine: How the EU’s crypto tax rules are expected to work for users and platforms