France: Crypto Is Now ‘Moveable Property’, Tax Down From 45 To 19 Percent

France’s Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) has changed the tax rate on cryptocurrency sales to a flat rate of 19 percent, rather than up to 45 percent like before, local news outlet, Le Monde reported Thursday, April 26.

The Council of State said that the tax change comes from a new classification of Bitcoin (BTC) separate from commercial or non-commercial activity:

“The sale of ‘bitcoins’ [fell under] the principle from the category of capital gains of movable property.”

The exceptions to the flat rate are earnings from crypto mining, which will be taxed as non-commercial profits, and income as a result of professional activity, which will be taxed as industrial and commercial profits.

Le Monde noted that the decision to change the crypto tax rate came after citizens appealed to France’s highest regulatory body earlier this year to change the regulations for crypto transactions that had been in place since July 2014.

France has been working on their cryptocurrency regulations this year. At the beginning of the year, the Minister of Economy created a crypto task force to examine regulation, and in March, the government proposed a ban on investment companies to trade in crypto until regulations have been implemented.

Also in March, France’s financial market regulator was reported to be looking into legislation that would encourage the development of Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).