France delays 2027 budget vote again as crypto exit-tax plans fail

What happened

France's National Assembly has postponed a planned vote on the revenue section of the 2027 budget for a second time and will continue debating the text instead. A notice issued after Monday's sitting put further examination of the revenue provisions, alongside questions to the government, on Tuesday's agenda, with 758 amendments still awaiting discussion.

The ballot had already been moved once. Le Monde reported that the original Oct. 20 vote was put off while more than 2,000 amendments remained unexamined. Lawmakers returned to the revenue section on Oct. 27 after a week devoted to social security financing, according to crypto.news, and Cointelegraph noted that Tuesday's sitting was set to pair government questions with continued debate rather than a vote.

The Assembly has until midnight on Nov. 17 to complete its first reading. If the revenue section is rejected, the government's original budget proposal would go to the Senate without the amendments MPs adopted during debate.

The postponement followed the rejection on Oct. 30 of two amendments that would have applied exit-tax rules to crypto. Amendment I-3904, introduced by Nicolas Sansu, was defeated by 55 votes to 27 with one abstention, according to the Assembly's official voting record. It would have brought crypto assets held directly, through exchanges or in self-custody within France's existing exit-tax framework, covering qualifying unrealized gains for taxpayers relocating from Jan. 1, 2027. A second amendment, I-3432, filed by Mickaël Bouloux, failed by 60 votes to 31. It targeted paper gains on household crypto holdings worth more than 800,000 euros ($897,000) for people who had been French tax residents for at least six of the previous 10 years.

Why it matters

The votes leave France's exit-tax regime unchanged for crypto, at least for now, and set aside a proposal that would have reached gains holders had not cashed in. The budget still carries other crypto measures that could alter how investors report and use digital assets. One proposal would require taxpayers holding at least 100,000 euros ($112,000) in self-custodied crypto to declare it to tax authorities, based on year-end value, with penalties of up to 10,000 euros floated for failures to comply. Another would exempt gains on crypto used to pay for goods and services where such payments total no more than 1,000 euros ($1,120) in a tax year. A separate amendment approved on Oct. 16 would make conversions into fiat-pegged stablecoins taxable. None of these has become law, and the compressed timetable leaves less room to settle their final wording.

What the data shows

758: amendments still pending when the revenue vote was deferred a second time. More than 2,000: amendments outstanding when the original Oct. 20 vote was postponed, per Le Monde. 27 in favor, 55 against, one abstention: the result on amendment I-3904. 31 in favor, 60 against: the result on amendment I-3432. 800,000 euros ($897,000): the household crypto threshold in the Bouloux proposal. 100,000 euros ($112,000): the self-custody reporting threshold in a proposal still under discussion. 1,000 euros ($1,120): the annual payments ceiling in a proposed exemption. Nov. 17: deadline for the Assembly's first reading. Dec. 17: constitutional deadline for the budget process.

Background

France already applies exit-tax rules to certain financial holdings when eligible taxpayers transfer their tax residence abroad; the rejected amendments sought to extend that treatment to crypto. The debate has also been shaped by fiscal pressure. Le Monde reported on Oct. 19 that an unnamed source close to the minister responsible for parliamentary relations said the government's objective was to cut the public deficit to 5% of gross domestic product, adding that the government must provide France with a budget. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's government had previously acknowledged difficulty in meeting its fiscal targets, and the draft faced opposition from lawmakers across the political spectrum. The Assembly's September timetable had scheduled a formal vote on the complete budget for Nov. 17, with the constitutional deadline for the wider process falling on Dec. 17.

What to watch

Two questions remain open. The first is whether the surviving crypto provisions, namely the self-custody reporting duty, the payments exemption and the stablecoin conversion measure, emerge from the rest of the parliamentary process, including Senate scrutiny, in a form close to what MPs have debated. The second is timing: with the first reading due by Nov. 17 and the overall process running to Dec. 17, further postponements could narrow the space for negotiation. The stablecoin amendment in particular has not become law, and its final wording depends on the budget being adopted.

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