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Do not declare your crypto: risks and tax consequences
If you have cryptocurrencies, do not declare your crypto can lead to important sanctions. You risk not only fines for omission of accounts abroad, but also a taxation increased by your capital gains, accompanied by penalties and possible criminal proceedings in the event of proven fraud. Here is everything you need to know to avoid these problems and understand the tax rules in force in France.
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Do not declare your crypto: Understanding Crypto taxation in France
cryptocurrency taxation has gradually adapted to the growing popularity of digital assets. Since 2019, the common regime applicable to individuals is mainly based on three pillars:
- The declaration of capital gains on the transfer of cryptocurrencies.
- The declaration of accounts held abroad.
- The application of a single flat -rate levy of 30 % (flat tax) in most cases.
To understand why not declare your crypto is risky, it is first necessary to distinguish two major obligations:
- Declare the accounts of open, detained, used or closed digital asset accounts every year (which concerns the majority of exchange platforms, such as Coinbase, Bitvavo or Kraken).
- Declare the gains (capital gains) resulting from taxable operations (eg sale of bitcoins against euros).
Each of these obligations meets a specific legal framework. Omitting one or the other exposes to sanctions ranging from the fixed to be fixed to the tax recovery, even to the criminal sanction in the most serious cases.
Forget to declare your accounts abroad: fines and increases
What platforms are affected?
Many trading , also called Exchanges, are not established in France. Therefore, if you hold accounts on services whose headquarters are abroad (for example Coinbase , Kraken , Bitvavo, OKX or other), you must provide information on your tax return 3916 -Bis (or its online version) for each account concerned. This imperative applies even if you keep only a few euros in cryptocurrencies, and even if you have not made any sales transaction over the year.
Sanctions for non-declaration
If you decide not to declare your Crypto accounts held abroad, the tax administration may inflict:
- A fine of € 750 per unconcoiled account.
- A reduced fine of € 125 in the event of an error or oblivion justified.
However, there is an increase when the value of an account exceeds € 50,000 at any time of the calendar year: the fine then increases to € 1,500 for each account (or € 250 if the error is recognized in unintentional). In practice, this threshold can be reached very quickly if you trade frequently.
Cap and limits
The total sanctions for declarative breaches cannot exceed € 10,000 per declaration of income. Although it is a ceiling provided to avoid disproportionate sanctions, € 10,000 remains a considerable sum for many savers.
These fines are often added to any penalties relating to the non-declaration of your earnings, if you have also failed to declare your capital gains. In more serious situations, an in -depth tax audit can be triggered, generating a very expensive recovery.
Do not declare your capital gains: risks of recovery and penalties
When should you declare your earnings?
French legislation requires any particular to declare the capital gains of the transfer of cryptocurrencies carried out during the year. The transfers considered to be taxable are:
- The sale of cryptocurrencies against a currency having a legal course (EUR, USD, etc.).
- The purchase of goods or services with cryptocurrencies.
The simple conversion between two cryptocurrencies (example: exchanging BTC for ETH) is not taxable in the majority of cases for individuals, but it should be verified that the administration does not see a form of taxable transfer if you recover euros in the meantime.
Below the annual threshold of € 305 of total capital gains, French law provides for an exemption. But this ceiling does not exempt from postponing these gains in the box dedicated during the declaration: it is still necessary to provide the information, even if one is not imposed.
Amount of tax in the event of correct declaration
As a general rule, gains on cryptocurrencies are subject to the single flat -rate levy, also called “flat tax”, which amounts to 30 % (12.8 % income tax + 17.2 % social security contributions). This taxation applies by default to annual net capital gain. However, it is possible to opt for the progressive scale if you judge this more advantageous, especially if you are lowly imposed and you have few other income.
Sanctions in the event of non-declaration of capital gains
The risk associated with not declaring its crypto can increase rapidly, especially if the tax administration considers omission as a volunteer. The sanctions include:
- A tax reminder corresponding to the exact amount you should have paid (30 % of the added value).
- Delay interest set at 0.2 % per month ( or 2.4 % per year) on the tax due.
- A 10 % increase if you regularize 30 days after a formal notice, which can rise to 40 % in the event of a deliberate breach.
- A penalty of 80 % if the situation is considered to be aggravated tax fraud (rare case, but possible when high amounts and hidden accounts are discovered).
The penalty of 40 % for deliberate breach is relatively frequent as soon as the tax administration can prove that you were aware of your obligations but have chosen not to submit to you. Exchanges of email with tax advisers, discussion reports on specialized forums or the history of platform transactions can demonstrate your degree of knowledge.
The risk of criminal proceedings
In the most serious cases, if the recovery concerns large sums exceeding € 100,000 in elected rights, the tax administration is required to transmit the file to the public prosecutor. This then estimates the opportunity for criminal proceedings for tax fraud. The sorrows incurred include:
- A fine of up to € 500,000, or even € 3,000,000 in certain aggravated hypotheses.
- An imprisonment of up to 7 years .
Certainly, these extremes are rare and generally associated with complex montages or with a blatant will to conceal heritage. However, the risk exists, and cumulative with other tax offenses (unorganized bank accounts, occult mining or trading activities on a professional basis, etc.) can lead to sanctions.
Do not declare your crypto: right to error and regularization, how to limit breakage?
The principle of the right to error
The ESSOC law (August 2018) introduced a “right to error” in France to encourage the declarative sincerity of taxpayers. Concretely, this means that if you have omitted to declare certain crypto gains or unintentional accounts abroad, you can regularize your situation without undergoing heavy sanctions. In practice, you will still have to pay interest in delay, but the increase can be given or seriously reduced.
The tax administration remains vigilant, however: coarse errors or the repetition of successive omissions can give rise to heavier sanctions. It is therefore better to correct your statements quickly as soon as you notice a forgetfulness.
How to declare afterwards?
If you realize that you should have declared gains or crypto accounts, you can:
- Send a secure letter or message via your personal space on the official tax website.gouv.fr, explaining your situation and asking to regularize.
- Complete Form 3916-Bis for the declaration of foreign accounts, even a posteriori.
- Record your previous income declarations (not prescribed years), in particular via the online amending declaration.
If you anticipate a complex situation (numerous trades, staking , mining, etc.), it is preferable to be accompanied by a chartered accountant or a tax lawyer with specific skills in cryptocurrencies. The capital gains calculations can be delicate, and you will thus avoid approximations likely to cause a new recovery.
Automatic tax calculation software also exists. The main ones are Waltio, Cryptotaxcalculator and Koinly. These software allow you to synchronize your accounts on centralized exchanges and your wallets in order to calculate the taxes due via a single interface.
More information here
The advantages of spontaneous regularization
Proceeding with regularization yourself above all tax controls presents several benefits:
- The delay interest can be reduced to 50 % (or 1.2 % per year instead of 2.4 %).
- The increase of 10 % can be avoided, provided that the deadlines granted by the administration.
- You keep a favorable position to negotiate possible graceful discounts.
Avoiding the opening of a litigation tax control is not guaranteed, but a proactive and transparent approach increases your chances of limiting penalties.
Do not declare your crypto: prescription and right of recovery, what is the control period?
In principle, the tax administration has three years to resume a tax return . For example, a gain carried out in 2023 and declared (or not declared) during the 2024 tax campaign may be controlled until December 31, 2026. However, certain situations extend this period to ten years, in particular the non-declaration of accounts held abroad . If you omit to declare a wallet abroad or if you carry out an undeclared professional trading activity, you potentially incur this extended period, until December 31 of the tenth year following the year concerned.
Do not declare your crypto: concrete examples of risks incurred
Example 1: omission of an account exceeding € 50,000
Imagine that in 2024, you have a balance of € 60,000 in bitcoins on a foreign platform. You do not declare this account. Two years later, a tax audit reveals the existence of this account. You risk:
- A fine of € 1,500 (instead of € 750, because the value has exceeded € 50,000).
- A possible increase if the administration considers that there has been deliberate concealment.
- A ten -year recovery period, making it possible to check all of your statements since the first year when the account has not been mentioned.
Example 2: Undoncited capital gains
You sold 5 ETH in total for € 10,000 in 2023, while you had acquired them for € 2,000. You have not declared any gain on your cryptocurrencies. In 2025, the tax administration discovered the operation. You might have to pay:
- 30 % taxes on the capital gain of € 8,000, or € 2400.
- Delay interest (2.4 % per year in the sums due).
- An increase of 10 %, or more if the deliberate character is proven (which would bring the total claimed beyond € 2640).
If several similar omissions are noted and the taxman judges these repetitive “errors”, a penalty of 40 % can be applied. The total amount then climbs significantly, because the penalty rate applies to the rights due, to which are added the delay interest.
Do not declare your crypto: specific activities, mining, staking and similar income
In France, any mining activity is considered a professional, commercial or non -commercial activity depending on the case. Revenues from mining should be declared. Ditto for the interests generated by staking , DEFI or Yield Farming. Many platforms today offer paid investments in cryptocurrencies, involving the periodic payment of additional tokens. These additional income is in principle taxable as industrial and commercial benefits (BIC) or non -commercial benefits (BNC), depending on the nature of the activity.
Not declaring this type of income can lead to sanctions similar to the non-declaration of capital gains. The tax services consider that these are operations relating to income tax, and any recurring omission can constitute characterized fraud.
Do not declare your crypto: other legal details and declarative obligations
DAC8 directive and automatic information exchange
The European Union has introduced the DAC8 directive to better control digital assets. Scheduled to enter into force on January 1, 2026 , this directive will strengthen the automatic exchange of information between Member States and will impose on cryptocurrency (PSAN) service providers a stricter reporting. In the future, hiding a crypto account abroad will become even more complicated, because data relating to sales and transactions will be communicated to the tax administration of your country of residence.
The 3916-BIS form
Since 2020, the declaration of digital asset accounts has been made via the 3916-Bis form (in paper or dematerialized version). Each foreign platform on which you have cryptocurrencies must be mentioned. Many investors omit to complete this declaration, either by ignorance or by choice. However, this is the main reason for which administrative penalties are often applied.
Do not declare your crypto: risks in other European countries
The tax landscape in Europe is not uniform:
- In Germany , cryptocurrency holders benefit from a relatively favorable regime: they are not imposed on capital gains if their digital assets are kept for more than a year . However, the non-declaration of foreign accounts remains liable to fines, because German legislation also requires transparency on the heritage held outside the country.
- In Spain , investors must complete three forms: 172,173 and 721 under penalty of drastic sanctions. The cryptocurrencies are explicitly mentioned in the list of assets concerned, and the fines are comparable to the French repressive regimes.
- In Italy, financial assets owned abroad, including cryptocurrencies, must be declared via the Modulo RW , a tax obligation imposed on Italian residents. This declaration makes it possible to report the detention of digital assets outside the country and to avoid possible sanctions. In addition, capital gains made on cryptocurrencies are taxed at a rate of 26 % .
The European trend, under the leadership of the Commission, is to harmonize and strengthen the fight against fraud, in particular via the automatic reporting of accounts, thanks to the DAC8 directive. Countries that have not yet specified their legal framework for cryptocurrencies are increasingly rare.
Conclusion: Better to declare its cryptos rather than risking big
If you keep digital currencies on accounts located outside of France and you collect gains, do not declare your crypto can cost you dear. From the simple fixed fine to the penalty of 80 %, without forgetting the risks of prosecution for tax fraud if the amounts are high, non-declaration is a dangerous bet On the contrary, correctly fulfill your income declarations and comply with your legal obligations protects you from much more expensive problems in the future.
Between the reinforced action of the French tax administration, the establishment of new European systems (DAC8 directive) and the growing interconnection between states to fight against tax evasion, it becomes more and more difficult to “hide” its digital assets. To avoid a painful financial recovery or legal proceedings, it is better to quickly regularize your situation. Holding a monitoring of your transactions via follow-up software, systematically declaring your capital gains and foreign accounts will avoid considerable long-term troubles. No one has an interest in allowing the doubt about operations that the taxman knows more and more identifying.
Finally, remember that the error can be corrected if you act in good faith: spontaneous regularization allows you to limit penalties and avoid an overly heavy increase. Whatever the situation, the main thing is to anticipate and remain transparent on your digital heritage, in order to remain serene and in accordance with French law.
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Yohan Uzzan
Training engineer, I quickly became interested in the field of finance. Convinced that decentralized finance has a bright future ahead of it, I participate in its democratization by developing Crypternon.
