France's Senate finance committee has approved a bill allowing the government to approve two international tax-information agreements, including one covering crypto transactions. The committee adopted the text without changes on October 21. The Senate's current legislative timetable lists a plenary debate for October 27, so the committee decision is not final parliamentary approval.
The distinction matters because France already has domestic requirements for collecting information about crypto transactions. The new bill concerns the international exchange of that information between tax authorities. It does not itself introduce a new crypto tax rate or mean that every participating country has already begun exchanging records.
The two agreements were signed by France in Asunción on November 26, 2024. One implements exchanges under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, commonly called CARF. The other updates an existing arrangement for financial-account information. The government submitted the approval bill in July, with the Senate acting as the first parliamentary chamber to examine it.
Existing collection, proposed international exchange
According to rapporteur Emmanuel Capus's October 21 report, French legislation already requires covered crypto service providers to collect information about transactions carried out from January 1, 2026. The first declarations are due in 2027. Those domestic obligations were introduced through the 2025 finance law and subsequently detailed in implementing rules.
The proposed approval would support the next step: transmitting relevant information to partner tax authorities and receiving records concerning French tax residents who use providers in those jurisdictions. The report distinguishes this international arrangement from the European Union's DAC8 framework, which also provides for information exchange between EU member states.
The crypto agreement specifies the information to be shared. This includes users' identifying details, addresses, tax residence and tax identification numbers, together with details of controlling persons where relevant. Records would also identify reporting providers and describe transactions by crypto-asset category and type of operation.
Transaction information includes the number of operations, quantities involved and total values. Exchanges are intended to take place annually, within nine months after the end of the calendar year concerned, using a common secure electronic format. That timetable describes transfers between authorities, not a new filing deadline for individual taxpayers.
The agreement also provides for cooperation when an authority identifies errors in information it receives or failures to meet reporting obligations. The committee report presents the system as a way to improve comparison of cross-border information with tax declarations, rather than relying only on separate investigations into individual cases.
Safeguards and partner activation still matter
Information exchange would remain subject to confidentiality and data-protection requirements. The report says France intends to specify additional protections required of its partners in line with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. Jurisdictions unable to satisfy those protections would not be able to exchange information with France under that arrangement.
Signing the agreement does not automatically activate exchanges between every signatory. Both jurisdictions must complete the required notifications and designate each other as exchange partners. The report therefore separates a political commitment to participate, signing an agreement, obtaining domestic approval and actually activating an exchange relationship.
The first exchanges involving France are planned for 2027 using information about transactions conducted in 2026. However, the report says the volume of crypto data expected from the initial collection is difficult to estimate. The timetable should not be read as confirmation that all partner relationships or technical exchanges are already operating.
A second agreement covers financial accounts
The bill's second article concerns an addendum to the existing multilateral financial-account exchange agreement. It would expand the information exchanged, including whether a valid tax-residence self-certification exists, the type of account, whether it is new or pre-existing, and whether it is jointly held.
Additional information would cover the number of joint account holders and relevant roles of people controlling certain entities. The report also describes notification requirements for participating authorities and a possible transitional period for jurisdictions still completing implementation, subject to acceptance by their exchange partners.
The finance committee supports both agreements as improvements to international tax transparency. Its approval now moves the unchanged bill toward the scheduled Senate debate. It remains an approval process for international arrangements, not evidence of a completed worldwide exchange system or a guarantee of additional tax revenue.
Related coverage: France's proposals for the MiCA review and HMRC's separate crypto tax-filing reminder.
Reporting is based on the French Senate's parliamentary documents, including Emmanuel Capus's report No. 83, deposited on October 21, 2026. This article is an original summary, not an official translation or reproduction of the report.
