French Assembly Rejects 2027 Budget, Shelving Stablecoin Tax
France's National Assembly rejected the 2027 budget revenue section by 458 votes to none on Nov. 4, so the bill is deemed rejected at first reading. A stablecoin swap tax and self-custody reporting rule fall away but could return in the Senate from Nov. 20.
A tax on crypto-to-stablecoin swaps and a reporting requirement for self-custodied holdings of at least €100,000 fell away on Nov. 4, when France's National Assembly rejected the revenue section of the 2027 budget by 458 votes to none, with two abstentions, according to the official vote record.
The Assembly's formal decision states that rejecting the first part means the entire bill is considered rejected at first reading. The crypto amendments adopted during debate therefore did not become part of an approved Assembly budget. Our earlier coverage reported the vote's second delay, with 758 amendments pending and a Nov. 17 deadline. The Assembly reached its rejection before that date.
What fell away
The stablecoin measure, Article 4 octies, would have taxed gains on swaps of crypto into stablecoins (electronic-money tokens) from Jan. 1, 2027. Lawmakers adopted it on Oct. 16. The related amendment I-3898, sponsored by Nicolas Sansu, also proposed changing how acquisition costs and gains are calculated.
The self-custody amendment, I-2701, passed on Nov. 3 with 150 votes for and 44 against. It would have required reporting of self-held crypto of at least €100,000, assessed on Dec. 31. Its sponsors, Charles de Courson, Jean-Pierre Bataille and Michel Castellani, cited about €400m in self-reported Bitcoin holdings and some €3.5bn in crypto gains for 2021.
A third adopted amendment would have raised the penalty for refusing tax-authority information requests from €10,000 to €50,000 per request, covering financial institutions, crypto service providers and platform operators.
Before the vote, Faustine Fleuret, global head of public affairs at lending protocol Morpho, warned that rejecting the revenue section could:
"result in the rejection of the entire bill in the National Assembly, including provisions adopted by way of amendments."
Faustine Fleuret, Morpho
Route to the Senate
Accounts of what the Senate receives differ. One report says the government will send the original budget text without the crypto amendments. Another points to Article 40 of the organic budget law: if the Assembly fails to vote on the whole bill in time, the government sends its original proposal, which may include accepted amendments, and the Senate has 15 days. Otherwise the Senate has 20 days for first reading.
The rejection is not a permanent bar. The measures can be reintroduced as Senate amendments, and would then have to survive the rest of the budget process to become law. The Senate's general budget debate is scheduled for Nov. 20, with revenue-section articles from Nov. 23.
For crypto firms and holders, the Nov. 4 vote removes the measures from the Assembly's text without settling them. Their fate now depends on whether senators bring them back.
