What are the tax consequences for stock market orders executed at the end of the year?

• Friday 27 December 2024 will be the last taxable trading day in 2024 for sales of securities executed before the market closes.
• Sales of securities executed on the last two trading days of 2024 (Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 December 2024) will be taxed in 2025.

An investor who buys or sells securities on the market does not immediately become the owner of the securities or the proceeds from the sale of these securities on the date of execution of his stock market order, but after a period known as “settlement-delivery”.

The date of transfer of ownership of a security does not correspond to its trading date (execution of the order on the market) but to its settlement date (cash settlement against delivery of the securities) between the financial intermediaries, i.e.no later than two trading days after the trading date ⁽¹⁾. 

For tax purposes, it is the transfer of ownership that constitutes the taxable event, i.e. the event that gives rise to a tax liability for the shareholder selling the shares.

This rule applies to spot trading in financial instruments (with the exception of transactions on Undertakings for Collective Investment (UCI) and Deferred Settlement Service (SRD) trades) executed on Euronext regulated markets, non-regulated markets (such as Euronext Growth and Euronext Access) and on foreign exchanges.

Consequently, spot sales executed on the last two trading days of the year, i.e. 30 and 31 December 2024, will be taken into account for the 2025 tax year, and the corresponding capital gains or losses will be included in the capital gains or losses for 2025.

Friday 27 December 2024 will be the last trading day with a tax impact in 2024 
(sales and taxation of capital gains or losses in 2024) for securities admitted to trading on EURONEXT Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.

(1) Article 570-3 of the General Regulation of the French Financial Markets Authority (RGAMF) and Article 5 of EU Regulation no. 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on the improvement of securities settlement in the European Union and central securities depositories.