Tax authorities in France will be going after cryptocurrency investors under a new law that obliges them to declare any wallet holding a few thousand euros’ worth of coins.
The upcoming legislation, which has just overcome a parliamentary hurdle in Paris, is expected to increase state surveillance over the digital assets of the French people.
France to boost monitoring of crypto holdings
France’s National Assembly has backed a bill “on the fight against social and tax fraud,” which concerns taxpayers, particularly cryptocurrency owners.
The draft law was approved by the lower house of parliament on first reading this Tuesday, local media reported, citing the chamber’s announcement.
The legislation introduces a new obligation for crypto investors: to declare each self-hosted wallet that holds €5,000 worth of digital coins (nearly $5,900 at the time of writing).
This particular provision is meant to reduce the opacity of digital financial flows, which have been harder to trace than fiat transfers through traditional bank accounts, the Journal du Coin noted.
By adding it to the legal document, the government hopes to tap into wealth that has been escaping detection until now, the crypto news outlet wrote in an article on Wednesday.
The move comes after a successful 2025 for the French tax authority, which increased reported amounts by €249 million and collected over €17 billion in taxes and penalties.
This was achieved by improving the monitoring of citizens’ assets, and crypto will now be integrated into the agency’s surveillance mechanisms, boosting its investigative capabilities.
When is the end of crypto anonymity coming?
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts will have some time before the legislation begins to end the anonymity of their holdings in France.
After passing the Assembly, the bill must be reviewed in the Senate, too, and given the nod by a joint committee, possibly in May, before it’s finally adopted.
Its implementation will also depend on the introduction of bylaws that will specify the mechanisms and procedures for monitoring and auditing.
Thus, the reporting obligation for non-custodial wallets and the respective surveillance mechanism are more likely to be enforced towards the end of this year or in early 2027.
France is tightening tax enforcement
French authorities have been taking steps to improve tax collection. The implementation of electronic invoicing, aimed at curbing VAT fraud, is one such example.
“The 2025 results already show a 148% increase in the results of tax credit refund audits, a sign of an overall tightening of enforcement action,” Journal du Coin pointed out.
The addition of cryptocurrencies to the list of assets subject to audit gives the French finance ministry another tool to combat fraud networks, the report highlighted, adding:
“Taxpayers will have to anticipate increased transparency regarding their digital assets, under threat of sanctions comparable to those for undeclared work or unreported foreign bank accounts.”
France has been moving in that direction for at least a couple of years, and the update of its tax legislation to account for new financial technologies was expected.
After audits powered by artificial intelligence proved their effectiveness last year, the integration of new detection tools targeting crypto holdings is likely to be swift and smooth.
Under the new legal framework, digital currency wallets will be included in France’s annual tax audit. Pressure on crypto owners to declare all their holdings to the state has been increasing in other jurisdictions as well. A recently proposed bill requires all Russian residents to report their offshore crypto wallets to the country’s tax authority.