The France €305 Crypto Exemption

France has a small but unusually shaped relief: if your total crypto disposals for the year are €305 or less, your gains are fully exempt. The trap is that it is all-or-nothing and measured on disposals, not gains — cross €305 by one euro and the entire year becomes taxable from the first euro. This guide is the mechanics, the traps, and the 2026 interaction.

TL;DR

• Total annual disposals ≤ €305 → gains fully exempt (article 150 VH bis I CGI).
• Measured on disposals (proceeds), not on gains.
• All-or-nothing: exceed €305 by any amount → every disposal of the year is taxable, from €1.
• Annual — resets each calendar tax year; no carryover.
• Crypto-to-crypto does not count toward the €305 (not a taxable disposal for occasional investors).

What the exemption is

Article 150 VH bis I CGI exempts an occasional investor's digital-asset gains where the total of all disposals for the year is €305 or less. At or below the threshold, the gains are not taxed and no 150 VH bis computation is practically needed. It is a de minimis designed so that very small crypto activity does not create a filing-and-tax burden.

Trap 1: disposals, not gains

The single most common misreading: treating €305 as a gains allowance. It is not. The threshold measures the total disposal proceeds (prix de cession) for the year, not the profit. Consequences:

• €280 of disposals with a 90% gain → exempt (below €305 on disposals).
• €400 of disposals with a €5 gain → fully taxable (above €305 on disposals), each disposal computed with the 150 VH bis method.

The profit is irrelevant to whether the threshold is crossed. Only cumulative disposal proceeds matter.

Trap 2: all-or-nothing

There is no partial relief and no €305 deduction once you exceed the threshold. The exemption is binary:

Crossing €305 does not give you "the first €305 free." It removes the exemption entirely. A taxpayer at €304 of disposals who makes one more €10 disposal moves the entire year from fully exempt to fully taxable. Near the threshold, the marginal disposal is extraordinarily expensive — this is the key planning point.

Trap 3: it is annual and resets

The €305 is measured per calendar tax year on that year's total disposals and resets each year with no carryover. Spreading tiny disposals across years to stay ≤ €305 each year is the structural implication (subject to not being recharacterised as something else). Each year stands alone against its own €305.

Crypto-to-crypto does not count

Because crypto-to-crypto exchanges are not taxable events for occasional investors, they are not the disposals the €305 measures. The threshold counts taxable disposals — crypto to fiat, goods, or services. Crypto-to-crypto still must be tracked for portfolio valuation under 150 VH bis, but it does not consume the €305. A very active on-chain trader who never cashes to fiat can have huge crypto-to-crypto volume and still be under €305 of taxable disposals.

2026 interaction

If you exceed €305 and the year is taxable, the net gain (computed via 150 VH bis) is taxed at the 2026 PFU of 31.4% (12.8% income tax + 18.6% prélèvements sociaux — up from 30% due to the CSG increase), or the progressive scale by the global option (see PFU vs barème). The €305 test, the 150 VH bis calculation, and the rate are three sequential steps: threshold → calculation → rate.

Practical workflow

1. Sum total taxable disposals for the year (proceeds, not gains; crypto-to-crypto excluded).
2. ≤ €305 → exempt; done.
3. > €305 → the whole year is taxable; compute every disposal via 150 VH bis on Form 2086.
4. Apply the 2026 PFU 31.4% (or barème).
5. Plan near the threshold: a marginal small disposal that crosses €305 can tax the entire year — defer if possible.
6. Reconcile against DAC8-reported data (see DAC8 impact on individuals).

How vendor tools handle the €305 threshold

Waltio (French-specialised) and Koinly apply the €305 test. The decisive check: confirm the tool measures it on total annual disposals (proceeds), not gains, treats it as all-or-nothing, and excludes crypto-to-crypto from the threshold count. A tool treating €305 as a gains allowance or a per-transaction deduction will be wrong for France.

How Wag3s helps

Wag3s Folio measures the €305 threshold correctly (total taxable disposals, all-or-nothing, crypto-to-crypto excluded), then applies the 150 VH bis method and the 2026 PFU 31.4% only where the year is taxable, reconciled against DAC8-reported activity. See the Folio product page.

Further reading

• France Crypto Tax Guide 2026
• Cerfa 2086 Explained
• Crypto Capital Gains Calculation France (150 VH bis)
• PFU vs Barème: Choosing in France
• How to Do Crypto Taxes
• DAC8 Impact on Individuals

Sources

• Article 150 VH bis I CGI — Légifrance
• BOFiP-Impôts — guidance on the €305 total-disposal exemption for occasional digital-asset investors
• 2026 CSG increase on capital income (9.2% → 10.6%) raising the PFU from 30% to 31.4%
• Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (DAC8) — EUR-Lex