Taxation: France last of the 38 OECD countries, bad news for crypto holders

Last in class, and with no catch-up in sight. France occupies 38th and last place in the Tax Foundation's 2026 tax competitiveness index, published on October 19. The tax on stablecoin conversions could further increase the cost of your cryptos. His fate will be decided in the solemn vote on November 3.

Score of 45.7 out of 100, when Estonia keeps the lead for the 13th year in a row. French corporate tax peaks at 36.1%, the highest rate in the OECD. On capital gains and dividends, Paris is in 35th place. Exchanging ether for USDC could become taxable in 2027.

The American think tank sifts through more than 40 variables in five tax families: corporations, income, consumption, assets and international rules. Verdict 2026, France obtains 45.7 points, compared to 45.8 last year. It was already last in 2025. Colombia (47.3) and Italy (50.8) are ahead of it. At the top of the table, Estonia (100), Latvia (92.5) and New Zealand (88.2) are racing alone. The Estonian model is based on one rule: corporate tax only affects distributed profits, and those that the company reinvests pay nothing. The property tax only relates to the value of the land.

The Tax Foundation report aligns the grievances bluntly. Corporate tax rate of 36.1% with surcharges, production taxes which represent 13% of business tax revenue, inheritance tax, financial transactions tax and real estate wealth tax. VAT only covers around half of final consumption. Labor is not spared either: its tax burden reaches 47%, one of the heaviest in the OECD. A single domain saves the day. On international tax rules, France ranks 13th, supported by a network of 123 tax conventions.

The neighbors all do better. Switzerland is 4th, Luxembourg 6th, Germany 19th, Belgium 27th. Even Spain, 35th, remains three places ahead. This classification has its limits. It judges the neutrality and competitiveness of a tax system, not the public services it finances.

The ranking details directly affect your wallet. On the taxation of capital gains and dividends, France ranks 35th. On personal tax as a whole, it ranks 33rd. Since January 1, 2026, a crypto capital gain has been subject to a flat tax of 31.4%, after the increase in social security contributions from 17.2% to 18.6% voted in the Social Security budget. Estonia has a flat income tax of 22%.

And the 2027 budget adds another layer. Amendment I-3898 by Nicolas Sansu (GDR), adopted on October 16 by 38 votes to 37, removes the tax deferment on conversions to a stablecoin backed by an official currency. Selling ether for USDC would trigger tax from 2027, without a euro paid into your bank account. Two other texts await their turn. One extends the exit tax to households that hold more than 800,000 euros in cryptos. The other, carried by Charles de Courson (LIOT), would require self-hosted wallets to be declared above 100,000 euros.

These amendments, still under discussion, do not weigh in the 2026 index. Chainalysis has already warned that the tax on stablecoins would push French users towards platforms outside the Union or towards DeFi, beyond the scope of European tax declarations. Germany, 19th, still exempts crypto capital gains after twelve months of holding. A project from the Federal Ministry of Finance plans to tax cryptos purchased at 26.375% from January 1, 2027, but the text is not adopted. Portugal, 33rd, conditionally exempts cryptos held for more than 365 days. The Czech Republic, 7th, applies a three-year deadline. Italy, 36th, now taxes at 33%. A poorly ranked country can therefore protect bitcoin holders. France combines both handicaps, with last place overall and no exemption linked to the length of detention.