Article 150 VH bis of the French General Tax Code is France’s statutory income-tax regime for certain private crypto-asset capital gains. As of July 6, 2026, the article is in force and sits in the Code général des impôts under the section for crypto-assets. The regime applies, subject to rules for professional income, to French tax-resident individuals who dispose of covered crypto-assets or related rights directly or through an intermediary. The current text is framed around crypto-assets subject to the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, reflecting France’s 2026 alignment work and the separate treatment of unique, non-fungible crypto-assets under Article 150 VH ter.
Scope of the Article 150 VH bis digital asset tax regime
The taxable event is a disposal for consideration. In practice, the regime is aimed at private-portfolio transactions rather than professional trading activity, because the article expressly preserves rules that apply to professional profits. The French tax administration’s 2026 public guidance distinguishes between professional sellers and private sellers, and states that private-portfolio gains are taxed under a flat-rate framework unless the taxpayer elects the progressive income-tax scale.
The article also contains a statutory deferral rule for crypto-to-crypto exchanges without a cash balancing payment. Those exchanges are not taxed in the year of exchange under Article 150 VH bis. By contrast, a disposal for fiat currency, property, services, or another taxable form of consideration can fall inside the regime when the other statutory conditions are met.
Gain calculation, threshold, and loss treatment
Article 150 VH bis uses a portfolio-based calculation rather than a simple asset-by-asset cost basis. The gross gain or loss is calculated by comparing the sale price with a proportionate share of the total acquisition price of the crypto-asset portfolio, using the ratio of the sale price to the portfolio’s total value at the time of disposal. The article specifies how acquisition price, disposal price, fees, gratuitous acquisitions, and prior transactions affect the formula.
The law also includes a de minimis exemption where the annual sum of relevant disposal prices does not exceed €305, excluding crypto-to-crypto exchanges covered by the deferral. Losses under the article are ring-fenced: annual gross losses from covered disposals may be offset only against gross gains of the same nature realized in the same tax year. They are not treated in the article as a general loss carryforward mechanism.
Rate, reporting, and administrative mechanics
Article 150 VH bis defines the tax base and payment responsibility, while Article 200 C supplies the default income-tax rate: gains realized under Article 150 VH bis are taxed at 12.8%. Since cessions made from January 1, 2023, Article 200 C also allows an express and irrevocable election into the progressive income-tax scale, made with the annual return before the filing deadline.
For 2026 taxpayer-facing guidance, DGFiP states that private sellers are taxed at a 31.4% PFU rate, consisting of 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social contributions, with an option to elect the progressive scale by checking box 3CN. The same guidance states that online declarations use annex 2086 and flow through to boxes 3AN or 3BN, while paper filers report the annual gain or loss on Form 2042-C and provide transaction detail on Form 2086. Separately, accounts with foreign crypto-asset platforms may trigger Form 3916-3916 bis reporting.
Status and 2026 amendments
The original Article 150 VH bis regime was created by Article 41 of the 2019 Finance Law and applied to cessions made from January 1, 2019. Declaration rules for foreign digital-asset accounts applied to declarations due from January 1, 2020. Article 200 C was later amended so that the progressive-scale option applies to cessions from January 1, 2023.
France’s 2026 fraud law amended Article 150 VH bis terminology by replacing the prior reference to digital assets under the Monetary and Financial Code with crypto-assets subject to MiCA, and inserted Article 150 VH ter for unique, non-fungible crypto-assets. The law states that those two changes apply to cessions made from January 1, 2026. Legifrance marks the consolidated Article 150 VH bis version as in force from July 1, 2026, so editors should preserve both dates when describing the current regime.