According to our information, 10,000 taxpayers declared 213 million euros in net capital gains in 2023. This is half as much as a year earlier.
While the tax declaration campaign opens next month, French people holding cryptocurrencies also have obligations: declare their capital gains (and capital losses) made over a full year. During the 2023 declaration for 2022 income, 10,000 taxpayers declared having sold cryptocurrencies for a net capital gain of 213 million euros, the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) told BFM Crypto. In detail, 245 million euros were declared in capital gains and 32 million euros in capital losses.
As a reminder, if a French taxpayer makes a taxable transfer (a gain or more precisely a capital gain), he will have to declare each transfer for tax purposes (see our article on declaring income in cryptocurrencies). Selling cryptocurrencies for traditional currency or purchasing a service with cryptocurrencies is considered a taxable transfer. Conversely, exchanging cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies does not need to be declared.
Since 2019, if the total taxable transfers over the entire year are greater than 305 euros, they are subject to the single flat tax (PFU or “flat tax”) of 30%, i.e. 12.8% tax and 17. 2% social security contributions. Note that capital losses must also be declared: if a user has lost money selling cryptocurrencies, this must also be declared.
Half as many taxpayers
According to our calculations, after the single flat-rate levy (PFU), the tax authorities recovered around 63.9 million euros in taxes thanks to the capital gains declared on cryptos in 2022. The data on income for 2022 is at compare to those of 2021. This is half as much as a year earlier, where 20,000 taxpayers had declared 400 million euros in net capital gains for taxes for 2021 income.
These figures fit into a particular context. Indeed, the market was particularly disrupted in 2022, with the fall of the Terra Luna ecosystem and the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange. The price of bitcoin fell to $16,000 in December 2022, plunging the entire market into the red. This turbulence, however, has not frightened the French, 12% of whom will own crypto-assets in 2024, according to a study by the Association for the Development of Digital Assets (Adan), Ipsos and KPMG.
Furthermore, while there are good students, there are also those who decide to illegally evade the tax authorities by not declaring their earnings. In 2021, according to Chainalysis, the French would have actually earned more than 4 billion dollars (or around 3.7 billion euros) thanks to cryptocurrencies. In this context, the State should have collected 1.2 billion, calculated Pierre Morizot, boss of the Waltio company, specializing in taxation. Contacted by BFM Crypto, Chainalysis is unable to provide us with data for the year 2022.
Source: https://www.bfmtv.com/crypto/info-bfm-business-on-sait-combien-de-francais-ont-declare-aux-impots-leurs-gains-en-cryptos-en-2023_AV-202403260431.html
