DAC8 and Crypto: What Changes in 2026
Vincent Castelin
05/22/2026
Since 1 January 2026, the European directive DAC8 is in force. It extends to crypto assets the automatic exchange of information between the tax authorities of EU member states. In practice, crypto platforms now transmit data on your transactions to the tax authorities, exactly as your bank has been doing for years with your current accounts. Here is what this changes for you, what it does not change, and why now is the time to get your documentation in order.
What DAC8 Changes
Your crypto transactions are now visible
DAC8 is the eighth revision of the European directive on administrative cooperation in tax matters. It requires crypto asset service providers to automatically transmit transaction data from their users to the tax authorities of their country, which then share it with the administrations of other member states.
Until now, crypto assets were the main asset class to escape this mechanism. Your bank accounts, life insurance policies and income from financial investments were already transmitted to the tax authorities by the institutions holding them. Crypto assets were the exception. DAC8 ends that exception.
DAC8 is part of a broader movement. The directive is the European transposition of the CARF (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework), developed by the OECD. At the time the directive came into force, 48 countries had signed up to this framework, and 75 have committed to adopting it over time. The alignment is global.
What platforms will report about you
For each user concerned, crypto asset service providers will be required to report two sets of information. First, your identity: name, address, date and place of birth, tax residence and tax identification number. Then your transactions, on an aggregate basis, by type of crypto asset (Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, etc.) and by type of transaction:
- Purchases and sales against fiat currency,
- Exchanges between crypto assets,
- Payments in crypto assets for goods or services,
- Incoming and outgoing crypto asset transfers.
Staking income generated through centralised platforms is also included.
For NFTs, the situation is less clear-cut. Those representing financial assets (tokenised shares, asset-backed tokens) fall within scope. Purely artistic or utility NFTs may be treated differently depending on their nature, but the dividing line remains to be clarified by implementing measures.
The actual timeline: your data is not arriving tomorrow
This is the point that generates the most confusion. Here are the three key dates:
- 1 January 2026: DAC8 comes into force. Platforms begin collecting data on transactions carried out from this date.
- From January 2027: platforms may transmit data to national tax authorities, covering transactions from 2026.
- 30 September 2027: deadline for the first automatic exchange of information between European tax administrations.
In practice: your 2026 transactions will be reported by platforms in early 2027. Not this spring, not immediately.
In France, the directive was transposed by Article 54 of the Finance Act 2025 and two decrees of 19 December 2025 (n° 2025-1276 and n° 2025-1277). The French tax administration's commentary specifying the practical application modalities has not yet been published in the Bulletin officiel des finances publiques (BOFIP) as of this date.
Will Your Transactions Be Reported?
DAC8 does not address you directly: it is the service providers that have the obligation to collect and transmit the data.
If you use a regulated platform in Europe
Yes. Providers authorised under the MiCA regulation, such as Coinbase (licensed in Luxembourg) or Kraken (licensed in Ireland), report their users' data to the tax administration of the country where they are registered, which then transmits it to the other member states. Around fifty providers are already authorised in the European Economic Area. Platforms still operating under a national transitional status, such as PSAN (Prestataire de Services sur Actifs Numériques, France's national crypto asset service provider registration) in France, are also subject to reporting obligations under the national transposition.
If you use a platform in a CARF signatory country
Yes, likewise. CARF creates reporting obligations equivalent to those of DAC8 in signatory jurisdictions. Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, for example, have both signed the multilateral agreement and will begin exchanging data with partner tax administrations in 2028. Your transactions will therefore eventually reach the French tax administration. However, CARF only covers tax reporting. User protection (capital requirements, governance rules, transparency obligations) falls under the MiCA regulation, which only applies to platforms regulated in Europe. This is the underrated upside of European compliance: the regulatory constraints on platforms are also what protects their users.
If you use a platform outside these frameworks
No automatic reporting obligation applies to it, and no regulatory protection applies to you.
So if your transactions do not pass through any regulated intermediary (peer-to-peer exchanges, direct interactions with decentralised protocols, transfers between self-hosted wallets, etc.), no provider will report them. DAC8 concerns the automatic reporting by platforms, not by individuals.
Finally, regardless of the situation, if some of your transactions give rise to a taxable event (such as in France a sale against fiat currency or a payment in crypto assets for a good or service), the obligation to declare the capital gain remains yours.
Impact on Taxation
What DAC8 does not change
Tax rules remain the prerogative of each member state: DAC8 does not harmonise taxation, it only harmonises reporting.
The tax treatment therefore remains identical.
In France, the flat tax still applies at a rate of 31.4% on capital gains from disposals. The taxable event remains unchanged: a capital gain is only taxable at the time of an actual disposal against fiat currency or for a good or service. Exchanges between crypto assets (Bitcoin for Ethereum, for example) remain non-taxable. The exemption for annual disposals below €305 is maintained.
What DAC8 does change, however, is the administration's ability to detect discrepancies between your declarations and the data transmitted by platforms. Omissions that previously went unnoticed will no longer do so.
Tax residence in France: what you can do right now
None of the actions below are new. They were already relevant before DAC8. What changes is that neglecting them becomes detectable: the administration will now have platform data to identify inconsistencies.
Verify that you are able to complete form 2086. This is the form for declaring capital gains or losses from digital asset disposals. For individuals, the French calculation method (Article 150 VH bis of the General Tax Code) is a global formula, not an asset-by-asset calculation: the acquisition price covers your entire portfolio, across all cryptos, at each disposal. This figure does not appear anywhere in a single location. It must be reconstructed from the purchase and sale history in fiat across all the platforms you have used, including those you no longer use. Download these histories while they are still accessible.
Verify your situation with respect to form 3916-bis. If you hold accounts on platforms whose legal entity is established outside France, you must declare them each year via this form, even if the platform is regulated in the EU. An account with Coinbase (entity in Luxembourg) or Kraken (entity in Ireland) falls within this scope. The penalty for non-declaration is €750 per undeclared account. With DAC8, the administration will have the information needed to identify these accounts.
Tax Transparency and Personal Security: a Real Tension
Crypto platforms already held your identity data and transaction histories. What DAC8 adds is their systematic transmission to tax administrations, and then their exchange between member states. Your data now exists in more systems, in more countries. Each additional copy is a potential leak vector, as data breaches regularly demonstrate, including within the tax administration itself.
In a context where kidnappings targeting crypto asset holders are multiplying in France and in Europe, this is not a theoretical risk. Parliamentary debates on the bill on combating social and tax fraud (n° 2115) raised this explicitly: building centralised files of crypto asset data creates a serious operational risk, independent of the legislator's intentions.
In Summary
DAC8 is not a new tax. It is the end of an exception: your crypto transactions are now visible to tax authorities, as your bank accounts already are. Regulated platforms in Europe and in the 75 countries committed to CARF will transmit your data from 2027. Your tax treatment does not change, but the administration's ability to detect discrepancies between your declarations and the reality of your transactions changes radically. If you are a French tax resident, now is the time to reconstruct your histories and verify your reporting obligations.
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