Can the French tax authorities seize your crypto? The SATD explained
Since the end of June 2026, the French tax authorities can seize the crypto-assets you keep on a platform, without going to court, and have them sold to pay a tax debt. The tax seizure from a third-party holder (saisie administrative à tiers détenteur, SATD), which replaced the former third-party holder notice (avis à tiers détenteur, ATD), now allows the tax collector (comptable public) to seize the whole portfolio held by a service provider, up to the amount claimed. It applies to any tax debt owed in France, wherever the taxpayer lives. You can sell the assets yourself within a period set by decree; otherwise the platform sells them for you, and that forced sale may create a taxable gain. Here is how the procedure works, what it really costs and how to challenge it.
Key points
- The seizure: it covers any crypto-assets held by a platform, up to the amount of the debt; not those in a wallet whose keys only you hold.
- The sale: you can sell yourself within a period set by decree; otherwise the platform sells for you.
- The tax: the forced sale is taxed like any ordinary disposal of crypto-assets.
- The deadline: two months from notification to challenge the seizure, with all your evidence at that stage.
- The way out: challenging the tax with a request for a stay of payment and sufficient security allows you to recover the seized assets.
What does the law of 25 June 2026 allow?
The law extends to crypto-assets the most common collection tool of the French tax authorities: the SATD. An SATD allows the tax collector to be paid directly by a third party that holds funds for you, such as your bank or your employer. It is notified to you and to that third party, without any court decision (French Tax Procedures Code, LPF, Article L. 262).
Until now, crypto-assets fell outside it: being neither legal tender nor a monetary claim, they could not be reached by this mechanism, and their forced sale in principle required a seizure by a bailiff (commissaire de justice). Article 90 of Law No. 2026-534 of 25 June 2026 on combating social and tax fraud, published in the Official Journal of 26 June, created an SATD specific to crypto-assets, in Article L. 262(2 bis) LPF.
The provision covers crypto-assets held by a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) within the meaning of the European MiCA Regulation. Since 1 July 2026, the transitional period for the former French digital asset service providers (PSAN) has ended: only providers authorised under MiCA may offer these services in France.
How does the seizure of your crypto-assets work?
The procedure runs in five stages, from the payment reminder to the transfer of the sale proceeds to the Treasury.
The stages of a crypto seizure
1. The formal notice to pay
The seizure requires an enforceable title: your tax assessment notice or the notice of collection (avis de mise en recouvrement) (LPF, Article L. 252 A). If you do not pay when due, the tax collector sends you a formal notice to pay, in principle preceded by a reminder letter (LPF, Article L. 257-0 A).
2. The seizure notice
The SATD notice is served on you and on the platform. Your copy must state the deadlines and means of appeal, failing which it is void.
3. The seizure of the portfolio
The seizure covers, without distinction, all the crypto-assets you hold on the platform on the day of the seizure, up to the amount claimed.
4. The sale by you
You can sell yourself within a period set by decree, and so choose when the sale takes place.
5. The forced sale by the platform
Otherwise, the platform sells the assets itself or entrusts the sale to an authorised provider, then transfers the proceeds to the Treasury within a period also set by decree.
The platform’s fees are capped in the same way as a bank’s for a seizure on an account: no more than 10% of the amount owed to the Treasury, within a ceiling in euros set by regulation (LPF, Article L. 262(5) and (6)).
Two practical parameters depend on a decree: how long you have to sell, and the period within which the platform transfers the proceeds. On the date this article was published, we had not found them in the Official Journal. A seizure notice may therefore be served on you before the timetable for the sale is set. In our view, a forced sale carried out before these decrees are published could be challenged.
Which crypto-assets can be seized?
Only crypto-assets held on your behalf by a service provider are covered.
| Where your crypto is held | Can it be seized through an SATD? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange or broker that holds your assets | Yes | The provision covers crypto-assets held by a CASP |
| Self-custody wallet whose keys only you hold (hardware or software) | No | No third party holds them: there is no one to serve the seizure on |
| Euros from a sale, on a bank account | Yes | Standard SATD on a bank account |
A self-custody wallet does not erase the debt: the tax collector keeps its other means of action, including seizing your bank accounts and your earnings, and your reporting obligations remain.
The tax authorities can also identify your platform. Since 1 January 2026, service providers have been collecting the identity of their users and the details of their transactions under the DAC8 Directive, for the first exchanges between tax administrations in 2027. Accounts opened with foreign platforms must also be reported each year. The law makes no distinction according to where the platform is established, but how it will apply in practice to a provider established outside France remains to be seen.
What does a forced sale really cost?
A forced sale settles the debt, but it may create a new one: the tax on the gain it generates. The French Tax Code (CGI) provides no special regime for a disposal imposed by collection: whether you sell within the period or the platform sells for you, the gain is calculated under the global portfolio method and taxed in the ordinary way (CGI, Article 150 VH bis). Which token is sold therefore makes no difference: only the price obtained and the value of the whole portfolio at the time of the sale matter.
Example: you owe €10,000 in tax. Your portfolio, held on a platform, is worth €40,000 on the day of the forced sale; you built it for €16,000, with no previous disposal.
| Step | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Proceeds of the forced sale | Up to the amount of the debt | €10,000 |
| Share of the acquisition price allocated | 16,000 × 10,000 / 40,000 | €4,000 |
| Taxable gain | 10,000 − 4,000 | €6,000 |
| Income tax and social security contributions | 6,000 × 31.4% | €1,884 |
To settle €10,000 of debt, the forced sale thus generates €1,884 of additional tax, to be reported the following year.
The market risk remains yours. The sale proceeds are deemed to go to the Treasury on the day the seizure is notified, but their amount depends on the price at the time of the sale, which may take place days or weeks later. Nothing is provided for if the price falls in the meantime. On our reading, if the sale raises less than the amount due, only the part actually paid extinguishes the debt, and the balance remains payable.
How can you challenge the seizure or the tax?
There are two separate routes: challenging the seizure itself, or challenging the tax on which it is based. Challenging the seizure does not allow you to dispute the amount of the tax.
Challenging the seizure
The challenge may concern the validity of the notice, the existence of the obligation to pay, the amount of the debt in light of payments made, or whether it is due (LPF, Article L. 281).
Key dates
- Two months from notification of the seizure notice to send a written claim, with all relevant evidence, to the head of the department to which the tax collector reports (LPF, Articles R*281-1 and R*281-3-1).
- Two months for the tax authorities to reply (LPF, Article R*281-4).
- Two months to go to court if the claim is rejected or left unanswered: the enforcement judge (juge de l’exécution) for the form of the notice, the tax court for the obligation, the amount or whether it is due (LPF, Articles L. 281 and R*281-4).
The prior claim is mandatory: you cannot go straight to court. And everything is decided at that stage, since the court rules solely on the evidence submitted to the tax authorities: you will not be able to present other documents or other facts (LPF, Article R*281-5).
Challenging the tax and suspending payment
If it is the tax itself you dispute, the route is a formal tax claim, together with an express request for a stay of payment (sursis de paiement), which suspends payment of the disputed tax until a final decision (LPF, Article L. 277). Above €4,500 of disputed tax, security must be provided.
That security frees the portfolio already seized: where you provide sufficient security in support of a claim with a request for a stay of payment, it replaces the assets seized before the claim, and the tax collector returns those assets up to the amount of the secured debts (LPF, Article R. 277-3-1). Only a release (mainlevée) sent by the tax collector to the platform ends the procedure: request it expressly after payment or once security has been provided.
Companies, directors and platforms
A company that holds crypto-assets on a platform may have them seized in the same way for its own tax debts. The gain calculation above does not apply to it: the result of the forced sale is included in its taxable profit, under the rules that apply to its business (CGI, Articles 38 and 209).
Article L. 262 provides that the SATD also applies to the managers, directors or liquidators of companies for sums owed by those companies. On our reading, this wording does not by itself make the director liable for the company’s tax: their personal crypto-assets can only be seized for that debt if their joint and several liability has been established, by the president of the judicial court in the event of fraudulent conduct or serious and repeated breach of tax obligations (LPF, Article L. 267), or by the criminal court following a conviction for tax fraud (CGI, Article 1745).
A platform that receives the notice must declare to the tax collector the crypto-assets it holds for the client, sell them if the client does not, then transfer the proceeds, within the fee cap. If it fails to declare without a legitimate reason, or makes an inaccurate declaration, it may be ordered to pay the sums due itself. ORWL Avocats also advises crypto-asset service providers on handling these notices, as part of its regulatory expertise.
Finally, the Finance Bill for 2027 proposes to apply the same mechanism to securities accounts. The bill has not been adopted.
What to do
Act before the seizure: once the platform has received the notice, the part of the portfolio corresponding to the debt is no longer at your disposal.
- Do not leave a formal notice to pay unanswered: it is the last moment to pay, to challenge the tax with a request for a stay of payment, or to offer security.
- Note the date on which the seizure notice was served: it starts the two-month period to challenge it.
- Check the wording of the notice: if your copy does not state the deadlines and means of appeal, it is void.
- Produce all your evidence with the claim: the court will not be able to examine any other.
- Decide quickly whether to sell yourself, so that you choose the timing rather than leave it to the platform.
- Keep the history of your acquisitions, needed to calculate the gain on the sale.
- Bring your tax returns up to date: a voluntary correction usually costs less than a reassessment.
Frequently asked questions
Sources: Law No. 2026-534 of 25 June 2026 on combating social and tax fraud, Article 90; French Tax Procedures Code (LPF), Articles L. 252 A, L. 257-0 A, L. 262, L. 267, L. 277, L. 281, R. 277-3-1, R*281-1, R*281-3-1, R*281-4 and R*281-5; French Tax Code (CGI), Articles 38, 150 VH bis, 209 and 1745; Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of 31 May 2023 (MiCA).
