If you sell shares, receive dividends or cash out crypto as a French tax resident, the headline number you have memorised is out of date. Since 1 January 2026 the flat tax (the prélèvement forfaitaire unique, PFU) is 31.4%, not 30%: the income-tax slice is still 12.8%, but the social contributions on investment income rose from 17.2% to 18.6% under the social-security financing law for 2026.
Most English-language guides still say 30%. This post lays out what actually applies in 2026, with the arithmetic shown, and ends with something the headlines skip: what 1.4 extra points does to a long-run plan, computed rather than guessed.
The short version
- The PFU is 31.4% in 2026: 12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social contributions.
- It applies to capital gains on securities, dividends and interest, from the first euro. France has no annual exemption on gains (Belgium exempts €10,000, Germany €1,000).
- It reaches back: for capital gains declared through your tax return, the higher social charges apply from the taxation of 2025 income. A sale you made in 2025 is settled at the new rate in the spring 2026 declaration.
- Some income keeps the old social rate: life-insurance gains (assurance-vie) and real-estate gains stay at 17.2% social contributions, so their combined rates are unchanged.
- Crypto disposals are also at 31.4%, but crypto-to-crypto swaps remain non-taxable deferrals, and if your total disposals in a year stay under €305 nothing is due.
- You can still opt for the progressive scale instead of the 12.8% slice. It is a yearly, all-or-nothing choice, and it is mostly interesting at low marginal rates or for shares bought before 2018.
What changed, precisely
| Income | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Capital gains on shares, ETFs, bonds | 30% | 31.4% |
| Dividends | 30% | 31.4% |
| Interest (taxable accounts, term deposits) | 30% | 31.4% |
| Crypto disposals (art. 150 VH bis) | 30% | 31.4% |
| Assurance-vie gains | unchanged rules | unchanged (17.2% social) |
| Real-estate gains | separate regime | unchanged (17.2% social) |
The change is entirely in the social-contribution half. The 12.8% income-tax rate did not move; the contributions on investment income went from 17.2% to 18.6%. Rates and scope come from the 2026 finance and social-security financing laws; the figures above were checked in August 2026, and this is exactly the kind of number that moves with a budget vote, so verify against your declaration.
A sale, worked through
France computes the gain on shares using the weighted average purchase price (PMP), not first-in-first-out. Say you bought in two tranches and sell part of the position in 2026:
- Buy 100 shares at €50: €5,000
- Buy 100 shares at €80: €8,000
- Your average cost is (5,000 + 8,000) / 200 = €65 per share
- Sell 120 shares at €90: proceeds €10,800
- Cost basis of what you sold: 120 × €65 = €7,800
- Taxable gain: €3,000
At the 2026 flat tax:
- Income tax: €3,000 × 12.8% = €384
- Social contributions: €3,000 × 18.6% = €558
- Total: €942, an effective 31.4%
The same sale settled under 2025 rates would have cost €900. The 1.4-point rise is €42 on this sale: small on any one disposal, and not small over a drawdown that repeats it every year, which is the last section of this post.
Note what is missing from the arithmetic: an exemption. Belgium applies its 10% only past €10,000 of net gains a year, Germany allows €1,000. France taxes from the first euro, which is why French plans feel every basis point of rate.
Crypto: same headline, different mechanics
Disposals of digital assets are taxed at the same 31.4% in 2026, but two mechanics differ from shares, and both are favourable:
- Crypto-to-crypto swaps are not taxable events. Trading one token for another defers the tax until you exit to euros, spend, or use crypto to pay. Belgium and Germany treat a swap as a disposal; France does not. If you rebalance inside crypto often, this is the single biggest practical difference between the three regimes.
- The €305 threshold. If the total of your disposals (not gains, disposals) in a year stays under €305, the gains are declared but not taxed.
The basis calculation for crypto is its own portfolio-proportional formula rather than the shares' PMP, but the flavour is the same: average, not FIFO.
The progressive-scale option
Instead of the 12.8% flat slice you can elect the progressive income-tax scale for the year (box 2OP on the declaration). The election covers all your PFU income for that year, and social contributions apply either way.
It tends to win in two situations: your marginal rate is at or below 11%, or you hold shares acquired before 1 January 2018, which keep their old holding-period abatements (50% after two years, 65% after eight) under the scale only. For most people above the 11% band holding post-2018 positions, the flat tax remains the better default. Run both before ticking the box.
What 1.4 points does to a plan
A one-off €42 on a €3,000 gain sounds like noise. The honest way to judge a tax change is to run it against a full plan, so we did, on the same modest household we used to compare European capital-gains regimes against the 4% rule: €290,000 across stocks, pension and cash, €1,400 a month of new savings, 7% nominal growth, a €2,800 monthly retirement budget.
- Under the old 30% flat tax, the earliest month the plan could stop working was April 2042.
- At the 2026 rate of 31.4%, same everything, it is July 2042.
The two scenarios differ in exactly one input, the tax rate on gains and interest, set to 30 in the first link and 31.4 in the second. Three months of extra work, from 1.4 points, because a drawdown realises gains every single year and the levy compounds against you. Both links open the scenario in the free calculator, so you can put your own numbers in and disagree.
Krosos ships France as a tax preset: 31.4% on gains from the first euro, weighted-average cost basis, swaps not treated as disposals. The tax engine replays your actual lots, so the gain per sale is computed the way the declaration wants it rather than the way your broker's app rounds it.
What this leaves out
- The PEA. Gains inside a plan d'épargne en actions escape the income-tax slice after five years; social contributions still apply. If your equity investing fits inside a PEA, that wrapper matters more than anything in this post.
- The high-income surcharge (CEHR): 3% to 4% on top for reference income above €250,000 (single) or €500,000 (couple).
- Employer schemes, carried interest, qualifying SME reliefs and every other special regime. This post is the general case.
- Next year's budget. France changed this number once; it can change it again. Check the current rates before acting on any figure here.
Thomas Heremans is the founder of Krosos and built the tax engine described here.
As always: these are estimates computed from your own assumptions and records, meant for planning and for your declaration. Not tax advice.