France Rejects Several Amendments to Bring Crypto-Friendly Tax

The French National Assembly has rejected several tax amendments that were aimed to lower the tax on capital gains made by cryptocurrency investors and traders. The local media reported that the tax amendments were designed to benefit the French crypto investors.

One of the rejected proposals was about increasing the yearly tax-redemption from €305 ($347) to either €5,000 or €3,000. However, the National Assemble ruled out saying “305 euros is already quite favorable”. The National Assembly added that in comparison to the way that securities are taxed, “increasing to €5,000 or €3,000 seems particularly excessive.”

However, another surprising rejection was the proposal to tax cryptocurrencies as per the same tax structure in which the securities are taxed as per the current system. One amendment was to differentiate between the occasional and normal crypto-related activities while creating a more favorable taxation for crypto users. However, this too was turned down by the National Assembly.

Another amendment in the Article 16a asks to tax crypto assets only when they are sold or completely withdrawn to the bank accounts. Under the existing structure, the France government also taxes investors for converting their crypto assets to fiat and storing it in the exchange wallets. But the National Assembly refused to make any changes to it.

However, despite rejecting several amendments to the tax changes, the National Assembly is considering to bring a flat 30 percent tax on the crypto gains. Under the existing tax structure, capital gains through crypto assets are taxed at 36.2% of which 17.2% go towards social contributions while 19% is cut as the income tax.

One of the latest meeting of executives form the National Assembly saw reaching a conclusion a flat tax rate is positively welcomed for its simplicity and legal certainty.” Last month, a Reuters report noted: that Currently bitcoin gains are taxed at a rate of 36.2 percent while other forms of capital gains on other non-real estate assets are taxed at a flat 30 percent.”

It further added that “The finance commission adopted an amendment to the 2019 budget bill that would subject sales of crypto-assets like bitcoin to the 30-percent flat rate as well”.