BFM Crypto explains how to best prepare your cryptocurrency income tax return from April 9.
The 2026 tax reporting period for 2025 income opened this Thursday, April 9. BFM Crypto explains how to best prepare your cryptocurrency income declaration for the year 2026.
• I am an individual and I hold cryptocurrencies on a platform, what should I declare?
A taxpayer who holds cryptocurrencies on a French or foreign crypto platform (even if it is PSAN or has obtained Mica approval from the AMF) must declare this account to the tax administration in form 3916-3916 bis, even if his account is closed during the fiscal year subject to a declaration. This regardless of the amount he holds on the platform.
A user will have to fill out as many forms as the number of platforms on which they are present. He faces a fine of 750 euros per undeclared account.
• What does a taxable transfer of cryptos consist of?
If a taxpayer makes a taxable transfer, he or she will have to declare each transfer for tax purposes. Among the taxable transfers, we distinguish:
· transfers of cryptocurrencies against a traditional currency, such as the euro or the dollar (for example, if you sell your bitcoins for euros)
· the purchase of a service or a good with cryptocurrencies (for example a car purchased with bitcoin) but also any payment with stablecoins as part of a purchase, even if the calculation of a capital gain remains simpler as stablecoins are backed by traditional currencies (example, 1 USCD = 1 dollar).
Conversely, exchanging cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies does not need to be declared. Likewise, there is no need to declare a wallet (physical or virtual wallet, hot or cold), such as Ledger or MetaMask. This situation could, however, change in the future, as the National Assembly adopted an amendment requiring crypto holders to declare each year to the tax administration the value of their cold crypto wallet as soon as the amount exceeds 5,000 euros. This amendment must be validated by the Senate to enter into force: it will be the subject of a discussion in the joint committee over the coming days.
Special cases: profits from bitcoin mining and those from staking cryptocurrencies now fall under the non-commercial profits (BNC) regime.
• I am an individual: what should I declare?
All these operations must be declared one by one via the Cerfa 2086 form, calculating whether the user has realized a capital gain or a capital loss. This also applies to capital losses: if a user has lost money when selling cryptocurrencies, this must also be declared.
Since January 1, 2023, the taxpayer can choose between two types of taxation:
• the Single Flat Tax (PFU at a rate of 31.4%: i.e. 12.8% income tax as well as 18.6% social security contributions)
• the progressive scale of income tax (to which are added social security contributions of 17.2%) by checking the 3CN box.
• I am a professional: what should I declare?
The gains of professional traders are taxable as non-commercial profits (BNC), at the progressive tax scale.
On the other hand, if a professional buys and sells cryptocurrencies as part of a well-defined commercial activity, the profits are taxed as industrial and commercial profits (BIC).
• How to calculate taxable transfers?
A user must make a calculation on all cryptocurrency operations carried out during the declaration year, to find out whether he has made a capital gain or a capital loss:
Here is the calculation formula to apply during each taxable transfer: transfer price – [prix total d’acquisition × (prix de cession / valeur globale du portefeuille avant la cession)]
To calculate the taxable capital gain, the total acquisition price of the client’s portfolio of digital assets on the date of the sale must be subtracted from the sale price, which will have been multiplied beforehand by the ratio between the sale price of these digital assets and the overall value of the taxpayer’s portfolio on the date of the sale.
