Stablecoin swaps: France plans the tax Germany has had for years

France wants to close a tax gap that Germany never had. On Wednesday, October 7, 2026, the finance committee of the National Assembly adopted an amendment to the 2027 budget bill under which swapping crypto assets into stablecoins will be taxed in future. It is due to apply from January 1, 2027. The amendment was tabled by Nicolas Sansu, a deputy for the left-wing GDR group. The same day, the committee adopted a second amendment that favours investors: losses on crypto assets should in future be carried forward for ten years.

None of this is settled. The changes have to win a majority again in the plenary of the National Assembly, after which the Senate takes them up. The view across the border is worth having all the same, because it shows how strict the German rule on swaps already is, and which consequence of it many investors overlook.

What France wants to change about stablecoin swaps

The rule in France so far: swapping one crypto asset for another incurs no tax. Only when an investor cashes out into euros or buys something with crypto does the gain come under the French flat-rate tax. That also covers swaps into stablecoins. Sansu calls it a loophole in the law in his explanatory note: stablecoins have long been used like money, they can be spent and used to buy other crypto assets, yet the gain on the way in stays untaxed. The United Kingdom and Italy, he argues, have already settled the matter differently.

The amendment changes article 150 VH bis of the French tax code. The tax exemption on swaps would no longer apply where the investor receives e-money tokens as defined by the European crypto regulation MiCA. That means stablecoins designed to track the value of a single state currency, the euro or the dollar for instance. Swapping bitcoin for ether would remain untaxed in France.

In Germany, swapping into stablecoins is already a taxable event

What France is planning has been German practice for years. The Federal Ministry of Finance is explicit in its guidance on crypto assets of March 6, 2025: swapping crypto assets for euros, goods, services or other crypto assets is a disposal. Swapping bitcoin for a dollar stablecoin therefore counts with the tax office exactly as a sale for euros does. The proceeds are the market value of the coins received at the moment of the swap.

The gain is only taxable, however, if no more than a year lies between purchase and swap. The investor's personal tax rate then applies, once private disposal gains for the year reach the 1,000 euro threshold. After more than a year the swap is tax free. In France, under the new amendment, it would be taxable even after ten years, because French law has no holding period.

The trap when parking in stablecoins: the holding period starts again

One sentence in the ministry's guidance is often overlooked: the periods start afresh after every swap. Swap bitcoin into a stablecoin tax free after three years to lock in gains, then later buy bitcoin again with that stablecoin, and a fresh one-year clock starts for the new bitcoin. A sale within that year is taxable once more, even though the money has been in the market for years.

The stablecoin itself rarely produces much of a gain, because its price is pegged to the dollar or the euro. With a dollar stablecoin, though, the exchange rate can create a small gain or loss in euros, and that counts too. Switching often between coins and stablecoins makes the picture hard to follow without clean records. The free CryptoTicker tax calculator also captures coin-for-coin swaps, calculates on a FIFO basis and shows for each purchase whether it is still inside the holding period.

France and Germany side by side

The table shows the heart of it. France taxes every gain, yet grants a deferral on swaps. Germany taxes the swap itself, yet releases gains entirely after a year. Long-term holders are better off in Germany today, while anyone who reshuffles often pays here sooner.

What the German reform could change on October 14

Crypto tax faces an overhaul in Germany as well. Under its draft bill, the Federal Ministry of Finance wants gains on crypto assets acquired from January 1, 2027 to count as investment income, with no holding period. Anything acquired up to December 31, 2026 stays tax free after a year. The cabinet is due to adopt the draft on Wednesday, October 14. The Greens' bill to abolish the holding period immediately was rejected by the Bundestag on October 8.

For swaps that carries a consequence worth knowing. On the logic of the ministry's guidance, every swap is also a fresh acquisition. Move coins from today's holdings into a stablecoin and back after the turn of the year, and what you hold afterwards are coins acquired in 2027. Under the draft, no holding period would apply to them. Things may still change before the cabinet decision and the Bundestag. Which programmes document swap chains across several exchanges cleanly is set out in our comparison of crypto tax software.

(As of October 11, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)