French Regulators Looking to Lower Capital Gains Tax on Crypto

On Wednesday, French regulators revealed their plans to lower the capital gains tax on cryptocurrency to that of non-real estate assets, as reported by The Next Web.

Right now, French crypto earnings are taxed at 36.2 percent. The proposed change would lower the capital gains tax to a flat-rate of 30 percent — the rate of traditional assets.

A Potential Change

That said, nothing has been set in stone. Regulators are only pushing the change to Parliament so it can be recognized as law. However, the amendment must be added to the budget bill during its final revisions. If done, the proposal will go into effect on January 1st of next year, says Cointelegraph.

Interestingly, reports came out back in April that the French were looking to drop the Bitcoin (BTC) capital gains tax from 45 percent down to 19 percent. This wouldn’t be surprising, as French authorities have long been discussing cryptocurrencies and how to regulate them.

According to The Next Web, the French government created and proposed their own ICO regulations despite the EU calling for a unified approach, as they wanted to protect their people immediately. This September, the French Parliament accepted an ICO framework that streamlined the startup process within the country. In an exclusive interview with Blokt, Pierre Noizat from Blockchain.io claimed that France could be a blockchain hub in the near future:

“I definitely believe France has the potential to become a blockchain hub in the future; we train some of the best European engineers in our country, and the blockchain community is constantly expanding. However, this will only be possible if the government takes matters into its own hands and does not let our talents flee to other countries due to the lack of regulations encouraging the industry to grow.”

Without the proposed bill, capital gains tax is calculated based on profit and whether a user trades on a business or casual level. While the flat-rate may lower capital gains tax for some investors, it could raise taxes for more casual traders.