Chartered Accountant for Crypto Assets

A crypto accountant characterises your situation (occasional investor, habitual trader, miner, company operating in the sector), rebuilds the traceability of your flows across wallets, exchanges and bank accounts, computes your gains and losses and secures your filings: form 2086 for taxable disposals, form 3916-bis for accounts opened on foreign platforms. In 2026, an occasional individual's gain falls under the flat tax of 31.4% (12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social levies), with an exemption when total disposals for the year stay below 305 euros; habitual traders and miners fall under the BNC regime. On the corporate side, the firm prepares the accounting treatment of crypto-assets under ANC regulation 2026-01 of 9 January 2026, mandatory for financial years opened on or after 1 January 2027. The MiCA transitional window closed on 30 June 2026: since 1 July 2026, the PSAN registration created by the PACTE law is no longer sufficient to operate in France, only a CASP authorisation is.

Digital assets behave neither like a securities portfolio nor like ordinary bank treasury. Multiple wallets, several exchanges, fiat conversions, internal transfers, staking, rewards, sometimes a company holding crypto as treasury or contractors paid in digital assets: every layer adds movements that standard accounting and tax categories cannot read directly.

The real issue is therefore not only tax. Before discussing taxation, you need to rebuild a defensible transaction trail: which wallets exist, which exchanges were used, which flows are simple internal transfers, which movements carry real tax significance, and how to separate personal investing, professional activity and any company treasury cleanly. That reconstruction is what determines the reliability of the gain computation, the strength of the filings and, for a company, the quality of the annual accounts.

Our reading. A crypto file does not become risky because the amounts are large, but because the initial mapping is missing. Most of the problems we fix come from mixed uses and scattered evidence, not from bad intent. Rebuild first, file second: the order of operations makes all the difference.

The first decision in a crypto file is not an optimisation choice, it is a characterisation. The applicable regime, the forms to file and the level of risk all depend on the boundary between the occasional investor, the habitual trader and mining activity. That boundary is assessed through a body of evidence: frequency and volume of operations, tools and automation used, share of crypto gains in your overall resources, and how the activity is organised. We document this analysis in writing, because it is the first thing the tax authorities will examine in the event of an audit.

The Occasional Investor: 31.4% Flat Tax and Form 2086

For an individual managing private wealth, gains on the disposal of digital assets fall under the regime of article 150 VH bis of the French tax code. In 2026, they bear the flat tax of 31.4%, made up of 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social levies. An exemption applies when the household's total disposals stay below 305 euros over the year.

Two points concentrate most of the errors we correct. First, identifying which operations are taxable: a transfer between your own wallets does not have the same significance as a conversion into euros or a payment made in crypto, and a file that treats every movement the same way becomes both unreadable and fragile. Second, the computation itself: taking platform exports at face value, without reconstruction or bank reconciliation, produces wrong numbers as soon as flows cross several exchanges. We rebuild the chronology of operations, compute gains and losses with a method specific to digital assets, and report the result on form 2086, line by line.

Then comes the trade-off between the flat tax and the progressive scale: it must be modelled across the whole tax household, not on the crypto line alone. Depending on your other income and family situation, the option chosen can change the final outcome significantly. We simulate both scenarios before every filing, rather than letting the default choice apply.

The Habitual Trader and the Miner: Switching to the BNC Regime

When the activity goes beyond managing private wealth, the regime changes in nature: habitual traders and miners fall under the non-commercial profits regime (BNC). This switch is not a choice but a characterisation of fact, and its consequences are significant: professional-income logic, different filing obligations, interaction with social contributions and, in most cases, a review of the most suitable operating structure.

This is the most poorly handled point in the files we take over: the boundary between occasional and habitual is rarely analysed, even though everything else depends on it. We produce a documented characterisation note that records the position taken and the body of evidence supporting it. If the activity genuinely becomes professional, we work on the right structure through our business and director taxation engagement.

Accounts on Foreign Platforms: Form 3916-bis

Every account opened, held, used or closed on a foreign platform must be declared through form 3916-bis. Failing to do so exposes you to a 750 euro penalty, and it is the most frequent omission in the returns we review: a multi-exchange file almost always contains one or two accounts that slipped under the radar, including accounts closed long ago. We systematically list every platform used during the initial mapping, which removes the risk at the source.

Quick Decision Guide

For companies whose business is crypto, the regulatory framework has changed scale. The French PSAN status (digital asset service provider), created by the PACTE law, has given way to the European CASP status (crypto-asset service provider) created by the MiCA regulation. The transitional window open to providers already operating lawfully before 30 December 2024 closed on 30 June 2026: since 1 July 2026, PSAN registration, whether simple or enhanced, and even the optional authorisation, no longer suffice to operate in France. A provider that has not obtained its CASP authorisation can no longer operate under the same framework: this is nota formality, it is a condition for business continuity.

What the Transition Changes for Your Accounts

Moving under MiCA raises the bar on everything related to financial information: documented governance, separation between the company's own flows and flows held on behalf of clients, quality of supporting documents, and the ability to produce financial statements consistent with the reality of wallets and platforms. An authorisation file rests on solid accounts, and approximate bookkeeping shows immediately. We prepare the companies concerned ahead of time: cleaning up the accounts, documenting conversion channels, connecting the accounting with on-chain tracking tools, and building a realistic transition timeline.

Web3 Startups and Companies Holding Crypto Treasury

Not every company in the sector is a PSAN. Web3 studios, protocol builders, consulting firms paid in tokens and SMEs that keep part of their treasury in digital assets nonetheless share the same needs: strictly separating the company's crypto from the director's, documenting every conversion, measuring exposure to volatility and giving shareholders and bankers a reliable financial picture. For startups in the sector, we combine this work with our dedicated support for startups and tech companies.

The French accounting standards authority adopted ANC regulation 2026-01 on 9 January 2026: it frames the accounting treatment of crypto-assets consistently with the European MiCA framework. For companies that hold, receive or issue digital assets, this text ends a long period of uncertainty about the treatment to apply, but it also creates a new obligation: bringing the accounting into line with a dedicated framework, instead of improvised treatments from one financial year to the next.

In practice, we prepare the application of the regulation in four steps:

• a complete inventory of the assets held, wallet by wallet, with a reconciliation between the accounting records and the on-chain reality;
• documentation of the origin and valuation of each position: acquisition, receipt as payment, reward, conversion;
• a review of the presentation of the accounts: the text's impact on the balance sheet, the income statement and the notes, and consistency from one year to the next;
• a lasting procedure so that future flows are recorded correctly as they occur, without late reconstruction.

This work matters as much for a company holding a few treasury positions as for a regulated provider: in both cases, accounts aligned with the framework are the basis for a calm dialogue with the tax authorities, banks and investors. We integrate it into our bookkeeping and account review engagement.

Crypto income is not limited to disposal gains, and this is where files become technical.

Mining falls under the BNC regime: it is activity income, not a capital gain. The useful question is therefore not only how much to declare, but how to document the production, the value of the assets received and the costs incurred to obtain them.

Staking raises a double characterisation question: the nature of the rewards received and the moment they must be taken into account, then the value to retain and the treatment of their later disposal. The answer depends on the actual setup (direct staking, through a platform, delegation) and on your status, occasional or professional. We refuse generic answers on this point: each configuration is characterised on the basis of the actual documents.

NFTs are analysed according to what the token actually represents and the role you play. A creator earning sale proceeds or royalties, an investor rotating positions and a company issuing a collection do not fall under the same tax and accounting logic. The characterisation of the underlying asset drives the treatment, and it deserves a written analysis before any filing.

On these three topics, our added value is not reciting general rules: it is characterising your precise situation, quantifying it and documenting it so that it holds up.

1. Mapping Assets and Platforms

We identify wallets, exchanges, bank accounts and conversion channels, including closed or abandoned platforms, in order to rebuild the complete chronology of flows. This step conditions everything else.

2. Tax Characterisation and a Written Note

Occasional, habitual, miner, company: we settle the characterisation through a documented note, supported by the body of evidence in your file. It is your first line of protection in an audit.

3. Computation and Filings

We compute gains and losses with a method specific to digital assets, model the flat tax against the progressive scale across the whole household, and file forms 2086 and 3916-bis. For companies, we prepare annual accounts aligned with ANC regulation 2026-01.

4. Defensible Documentation

Exchange histories, transfer and conversion evidence, bank reconciliations: we centralise the supporting documents so the file remains usable years later, without reconstruction.

5. Ongoing Control

Once the file is back in order, we set up a procedure for future flows: each financial year then closes without archaeology. For regulated providers, we also track the MiCA timeline and its accounting impact.

Illustrative Scenario: A Multi-Wallet File Rebuilt

A scenario built for teaching purposes, to show the sequence of work on a crypto history rebuild. It does not describe an actual client file.

Starting point: the director of a SASU using Binance and Coinbase since 2021, with flows crossing between personal accounts and the company account. Staking rewards had never been declared and contractors had been paid in crypto. Around 800 movements over three financial years, with no initial mapping.

Actions taken: mapping of all wallets and exchanges, chronological reconstruction of the flows, separation of internal transfers from taxable operations, computation of gains using the weighted average cost method, and a documentary procedure put in place for future flows.

Result: three financial years regularised and filed, a documented separation between personal crypto and company crypto, and a usable base for the following years, with no further reconstruction needed.

A Firm Equipped for These Files

The firm is based in Paris 8 and works remotely with clients across France; crypto files lend themselves naturally to this, since the evidence is digital. Bookkeeping runs on Pennylane, exchanges are secure and you get an answer within 24 to 48 hours, in French or in English. You leave with concrete deliverables: a characterisation note, the computation of gains and losses, filings submitted, an accounting and regulatory diagnosis for companies, and a procedure for what comes next.