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In France, the parliament had received several proposals to make changes into the 2019 finance bill in order to ease crypto-related taxation. These proposals were intended to make the tax treatment for transacting in cryptocurrencies more advantageous.
The decision took place in the Assemblee Nationale, the lower house of the French Parliament which is discussing the upcoming 2019 governmental budget, currently. The Chairman of the Finance Committee declined four proposals in total.
Proposed Amendments
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One of the amendment was designed to treat cryptocurrency transactions same as other stock market transactions, which is more favorable from a taxation point of view. Also, it would introduce a distinction between regular crypto transactions and occasional ones.
The another rejected recommendation suggests imposing taxes only when they had entered “the real economy.” This could exempt transactions done on cryptocurrency exchanges from capital gains taxes. Last two modifications were intended to increase the annual volume of transactions that fall under tax exemption from €305 (around $350) to €3,000 ($3,430), or even €5,000 ($5,714).
Apart from that, back in November, a decrease in the crypto income tax rate from 36.2 to 30 percent was also proposed, currently showing an unclear status.
French Cryptocurrency Supporters Reactions
The crypto community in France considered the rejection of all four amendments as a setback. On this, Alexandre Stachtchenko, the president of La Chaintech, a national blockchain industry lobbying group noted, “The most frustrating thing about all this is that none of the rejections were motivated or justified by the Chairman or the Minister. In short, the message received by the community in France and abroad is terribly simple: ‘Take all the risks, we will not support you, and the money you will earn to take risks will go into the coffers of the state.’ It’s dramatic.”
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Previously, France’s president Emmanuel Macron expressed that he would like France to become a “startup nation.” Also, French Minister for the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire claimed while echoing macron’s statement that France is set to have its “blockchain revolution.” With that, the country’s overall attitude towards cryptocurrencies remains unclear.
