Form 2086 — Complete Guide to Crypto Tax Declaration France 2026

Declaring capital gains on digital assets has been mandatory in France since 2019. Whether you sold Bitcoin, exchanged Ethereum for euros or used stablecoins, you must fill out form 2086. This guide walks you through every step to correctly declare your crypto operations in 2026.

Every year, thousands of French taxpayers make mistakes on their crypto declarations — forgetting disposals, miscalculating the global capital gain, confusing taxable and non-taxable operations. This guide is designed to help you avoid those pitfalls and save time.

1. What is form 2086?

Form 2086 (Cerfa No. 2086) is the official French tax administration document dedicated to declaring capital gains from the disposal of digital assets. It was introduced by Article 150 VH bis of the French General Tax Code (CGI).

This form accompanies your annual income tax return (form 2042). It must be completed for each taxable disposal made during the previous fiscal year. In 2026, you are therefore declaring operations carried out in 2025.

Form 2086 is divided into several sections:

• Part I — Taxpayer identification and declaration year
• Part II — Detail of each disposal (date, sale price, acquisition price, fees)
• Part III — Calculation of the global capital gain or loss
• Part IV — Transfer of the result to form 2042-C

Important: form 2086 only covers disposals to fiat currency (euros, dollars) or purchases of goods/services with cryptocurrencies. Crypto-to-crypto exchanges (e.g., BTC to ETH) are not taxable since the 2024 Finance Act.

2. Who must file form 2086?

Any taxpayer who is a French tax resident and has made at least one taxable disposal of digital assets during the year must file this form. This includes:

• Selling cryptocurrencies for euros (or any fiat currency)
• Purchasing goods or services with cryptocurrencies
• Withdrawing via a crypto card (Binance Card, Crypto.com, etc.)
• Repaying a loan in cryptocurrency

However, the following operations do not trigger a filing obligation on form 2086:

• Crypto-to-crypto exchanges (BTC to ETH, ETH to USDT)
• Transfers between your own wallets or exchanges
• Receiving crypto from staking or airdrops (taxed differently, as BNC income)
• Crypto donations (subject to gift tax rules)

Note: even if your global capital gain is negative (you lost money), you must still file form 2086 if you made taxable disposals. The net loss can be carried forward for the next 10 years.

3. The FIFO method explained simply

France requires the use of the FIFO (First In, First Out) method to calculate crypto capital gains. In practice, when you sell a cryptocurrency, the first tokens purchased are considered the first ones sold.

The formula for calculating the taxable capital gain is:

Let's take a concrete example:

• You bought 1 BTC at EUR 20,000 in January 2024
• You bought 0.5 BTC at EUR 40,000 in June 2024 (i.e., EUR 20,000)
• Total acquisition cost: EUR 40,000 for 1.5 BTC
• In March 2025, you sell 0.5 BTC at EUR 50,000 per BTC, i.e., EUR 25,000
• Total portfolio value at the time of disposal: 1.5 x 50,000 = EUR 75,000
• Acquisition fraction: 40,000 x (25,000 / 75,000) = EUR 13,333
• Taxable capital gain: 25,000 - 13,333 = EUR 11,667

This calculation becomes complex as soon as you have multiple purchases, sales and different cryptocurrencies. That is why an automated tool like KRYPTFOLIO is essential to avoid errors.

4. Step-by-step filing guide

Here is the complete procedure for declaring your crypto capital gains on impots.gouv.fr:

Step 1: Gather your operations

Before starting, you need the exhaustive list of all your taxable disposals for the year. For each operation, note:

• The date of the disposal
• The amount in euros received (sale price)
• The cryptocurrency sold and the quantity
• Transaction fees (gas fees, exchange fees)

Step 2: Calculate the global acquisition cost

The global acquisition cost is the total amount invested in crypto since the beginning, reduced by fractions already used in previous disposals. This cumulative calculation makes the FIFO method particularly complex.

Step 3: Determine the total portfolio value

At the time of each disposal, you must evaluate the total value of your crypto portfolio in euros. KRYPTFOLIO automatically calculates this value from historical prices.

Step 4: Fill out the form on impots.gouv.fr

Log in to your personal space, select "Online declaration", then check the box "Capital gains on digital assets" in the "Additional income" section. Form 2086 will appear automatically.

Step 5: Report the result on form 2042-C

The net capital gain (or loss) calculated on form 2086 must be reported in box 3AN (gain) or 3BN (loss) of form 2042-C.

5. Flat tax 30%: how does it work?

Since 2019, capital gains on digital assets are subject to the Prelevement Forfaitaire Unique (PFU), also called the flat tax, at an overall rate of 30%. This rate breaks down as follows:

• 12.8% income tax
• 17.2% social contributions (CSG, CRDS)

Since the 2024 Finance Act, you can opt for the progressive income tax scale instead of the PFU. This option may be advantageous if your marginal tax bracket is below 12.8%. In that case, only the 17.2% social contributions apply on top.

Example: if you have a net capital gain of EUR 5,000 with the PFU, you will pay 5,000 x 30% = EUR 1,500 in tax.

Note: professional trading (habitual activity) falls under BIC/BNC tax regimes and not form 2086. The boundary between occasional and habitual activity remains blurry, but the tax administration generally considers the frequency of operations, amounts and sophistication of strategies as criteria.

6. Common mistakes to avoid

Here are the most frequent mistakes we observe among taxpayers:

• Forgetting small disposals — Even a EUR 50 withdrawal via a crypto card is a taxable disposal
• Confusing crypto-to-crypto with disposal — Since 2024, crypto-to-crypto exchanges are no longer taxable, but you still need to track them for acquisition cost calculation
• Using the wrong acquisition cost — The cost must include purchase fees and be calculated using cumulative FIFO
• Forgetting form 3916-bis — If you hold accounts on foreign exchanges (Binance, Kraken, Coinbase), you must declare them on this supplementary form. The fine is EUR 750 per undeclared account (EUR 1,500 if the value exceeds EUR 50,000)
• Not declaring airdrops and staking — Staking rewards and airdrops are taxable as BNC (non-commercial profits) and not on form 2086
• Ignoring losses — Even at a loss, declare: the loss can be carried forward and will reduce your future taxes

7. Tools to automate your declaration

Manually calculating FIFO capital gains is extremely time-consuming and error-prone, especially if you have dozens or hundreds of operations across multiple exchanges. Here are the main tools available:

• Waltio — Specialized in French crypto tax, from EUR 99/year. Generates the complete form 2086 but expensive for small portfolios
• Koinly — International, from EUR 49/year. Limited support for form 2086, English interface
• KRYPTFOLIO — Tracker + integrated tax at EUR 12.99/month. Automatic FIFO calculation, API import (Binance, Kraken, Bybit), one-click indicative 2086 summary. The only tool that combines portfolio tracking and tax preparation

The advantage of KRYPTFOLIO is that your transactions are imported and updated automatically. You don't need to export CSVs or juggle between multiple tools. The indicative summary is available at any time, not just during the filing period.

8. 2026 tax updates

Several important changes have come into effect for the 2026 declaration (2025 income):

• DAC8 — The European DAC8 directive requires exchanges to automatically transmit transaction information to member state tax authorities. Your Binance, Kraken and Coinbase operations will be known to the administration
• Form 3916-bis threshold — The threshold for declaring foreign accounts remains at EUR 0 (every account must be declared)
• NFTs — NFT disposals now follow the same regime as cryptocurrencies (form 2086)
• Progressive scale option — The option for the progressive scale (instead of the 30% PFU) is now irrevocable for the year

These changes make rigorous tracking of your operations even more important. Automated declaration is no longer a luxury — it is a necessity.

9. 2026 filing calendar

The filing calendar for 2025 income (2026 declaration) is as follows:

• April 10, 2026 — Online filing service opens
• May 22, 2026 — Deadline for departments 01-19 (zone 1)
• May 29, 2026 — Deadline for departments 20-54 (zone 2)
• June 5, 2026 — Deadline for departments 55-976 (zone 3)

Tip: do not wait until the last minute. Prepare your 2086 summary now with KRYPTFOLIO to avoid the stress of the filing period.