France crypto tax for individuals is generally triggered when digital assets are converted into fiat or used to buy goods or services. The default regime for private investors is usually Article 150 VH bis du CGI, with a default PFU of 30% made up of 12.8% income tax and 17.2% social contributions. Crypto-to-crypto swaps are generally not taxed immediately for individuals under the standard regime, but they still matter for records, portfolio value, and later Form 2086 calculations. Foreign custodial exchange accounts may also trigger Form 3916-bis reporting even where no tax is due.
This page is an information resource, not legal or tax advice. French crypto taxation depends on the taxpayer’s facts, tax residency, activity profile, source of income, and current administrative guidance from DGFiP and BOFiP. Edge cases such as professional trading, DeFi wrappers, derivatives, and NFT classification should be reviewed against the law and official guidance applicable to the relevant tax year.
Essential tax treatment, filing windows and compliance pressure points at a glance.
France crypto tax reporting follows the calendar year. Every taxable disposal, reward receipt, and reportable foreign account should be reconciled for that period.
Returns filed in 2026 generally report the prior calendar year. The official filing calendar should be checked on impots.gouv.fr because online deadlines vary by department and may change each year.
Export exchange CSVs, wallet histories, DeFi records, EUR valuations, fees, and tx hashes before completing Form 2086. France calculations depend on portfolio-level acquisition cost, not a simple lot-by-lot FIFO engine.
France crypto tax for private individuals is generally driven by the disposal logic in Article 150 VH bis. The practical rule is narrow but not simplistic: a taxable event usually arises when digital assets are converted into fiat or used to purchase goods or services. By contrast, a crypto-to-crypto swap is generally not taxed immediately under the standard individual regime, but it remains economically relevant because it changes the composition and value of the portfolio used later in the French gain formula. A second layer matters just as much: some receipts are not pure capital gains at all. Mining, staking, salary, freelance payments, lending interest, and protocol rewards may fall into an income-type analysis at receipt, with a separate tax consequence when the received tokens are later disposed of. That distinction between a taxable disposal and a reporting obligation is where many filings fail.
Sell crypto for euros or other fiat
Usually taxable
Pay for goods or services with crypto
Usually taxable
Swap BTC for ETH
Usually non-taxable
Convert ETH to USDT or USDC
Usually non-taxable
Transfer crypto between your own wallets
Usually non-taxable
Receive staking or lending rewards
Usually taxable
Receive salary or freelance income in crypto
Usually taxable
Open or keep a foreign custodial exchange account
Usually non-taxable
| Event | Treatment | Why | Value Basis | Records Needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selling crypto for euros or another fiat currency | Generally taxable for individuals under Article 150 VH bis; net annual gains usually taxed at PFU 30% unless another regime applies. | This is the clearest disposal event in the French system. The taxable gain is not based on FIFO lots but on the French portfolio formula using disposal proceeds, total portfolio value at the time of disposal, and remaining total acquisition cost. | Proceeds in EUR, generally net of directly linked disposal fees where applicable. | Date and time, asset, quantity, EUR proceeds, fees, exchange statement, wallet address, tx hash, and portfolio value snapshot at disposal. |
| Paying for goods or services with crypto | Generally taxable as a disposal under the same logic as a fiat sale. | Using BTC or another digital asset to buy a laptop, travel, or a service is economically treated like disposing of crypto for value. Many guides understate this point, but it is central for France crypto tax compliance. | Fair market value of the goods or services in EUR at the time of payment. | Merchant invoice, order confirmation, EUR value, crypto amount spent, wallet proof, tx hash, and any payment processor receipt. |
| Crypto-to-crypto swap, including many stablecoin conversions | Generally not taxed immediately for private individuals under the standard regime. | A swap such as BTC to ETH or ETH to USDT usually does not create an immediate taxable disposal under the individual digital asset regime. However, it still affects future calculations because later taxable events use the whole-portfolio method rather than isolated lots. | No immediate taxable basis under the standard individual regime, but EUR valuation should still be captured for audit and reconciliation. | Swap timestamp, assets in and out, quantities, fees, EUR market values, platform statement, and tx hash. |
| Transfer between self-owned wallets or accounts | Generally not taxable if beneficial ownership does not change. | A pure internal transfer is not a disposal. The real compliance risk is broken data: duplicate imports, missing cost history, or lost wallet mapping can distort the later Form 2086 calculation. | No taxable basis if ownership remains the same. | Source and destination addresses, platform names, timestamps, tx hashes, and internal wallet mapping. |
| Mining, staking, lending, airdrops, salary, freelance receipts | Often analyzed as income-type receipts at the time of receipt, subject to facts and the applicable regime; later disposals may trigger a separate gain calculation. | France distinguishes between a capital gain on disposal and income earned from an activity or reward stream. The same token can therefore create one tax consequence when received and another when later sold or spent. | Fair market value in EUR at receipt, then later disposal value if sold or spent. | Reward logs, protocol statements, block explorer evidence, payroll or invoice records, EUR valuation source, and later disposal records. |
| Foreign custodial exchange account | Not itself a taxable event, but it may trigger Form 3916-bis reporting. | France separates tax on gains from disclosure obligations. A dormant or low-activity foreign custodial account can still be reportable, and penalties are generally assessed per undeclared account. | No gain basis; this is a reporting obligation rather than a disposal. | Platform legal name, country, account identifier, opening date, closing date if any, and evidence that the account is custodial rather than a self-hosted wallet. |
The legal classification is decisive because France does not tax every crypto user under the same rule set. A private individual making occasional disposals is generally analyzed under Article 150 VH bis du CGI. A person whose activity is organized, repeated, profit-seeking, and carried out with business-like means may fall outside that regime and into an income-based framework. Older internet guides often reduce this issue to a simple BIC label for professional traders, but that framing is frequently outdated after the post-2023 evolution of the rules and guidance. In practice, BNC, other income categories, or business taxation can become relevant depending on the facts. Companies are different again: they do not use the individual portfolio formula and instead follow corporate accounting and tax rules. The operational lesson is simple: if the activity looks like a business, uses leverage systematically, relies on automation, or resembles a service business rather than passive investing, the standard individual regime should not be assumed without review.
A private investor generally falls under Article 150 VH bis when disposing of digital assets on an occasional basis outside a professional business structure. The default rate is usually the PFU 30%, and the French portfolio formula applies instead of FIFO.
A professional activity may apply where trading or crypto-related operations are organized, habitual, and conducted with means comparable to a business. In those cases, income-category analysis becomes critical and old one-line BIC assumptions can be misleading.
A company holding or transacting in crypto is generally taxed under corporate rules, not the individual PFU regime. Accounting treatment, valuation method, treasury classification, and year-end records become central.
| Criterion | Occasional Investor | Self-employed Activity | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Usually Article 150 VH bis du CGI for private individuals disposing of digital assets. | Fact-specific income analysis; current law and BOFiP guidance must be checked for the relevant year. | Corporate tax and accounting framework, not the individual digital asset PFU regime. |
| Typical activity pattern | Personal investment, occasional sales, no structured client-facing business. | Recurring activity, organized workflow, possible use of bots, leverage, advisory, mining, validation, or service revenue. | Treasury management, trading desk, operating business, issuer, or crypto service provider. |
| Main tax logic | Capital gain on taxable disposal using the French portfolio formula. | Income-type taxation may apply at receipt and in business operations; classification can materially change the result. | Book-based profit computation, accounting recognition, and corporate tax treatment. |
| Rate framework | Usually PFU 30% by default, with possible progressive-scale election where applicable. | Potentially progressive income taxation depending on the applicable category and facts. | Corporate tax rules and accounting adjustments. |
| Practical warning | Do not use FIFO software and assume the result is French-compliant. | Do not rely on old articles that label every professional crypto activity as BIC without checking current law. | Do not import personal-wallet logic into corporate books without a documented accounting policy. |
The default France crypto tax regime for private individuals is usually the PFU of 30%, composed of 12.8% income tax and 17.2% social contributions. That is the headline rate, but the real technical core is the French gain formula. France generally does not compute gains by assigning a specific historical coin lot using FIFO or LIFO. Instead, each taxable disposal allocates a fraction of the portfolio’s remaining total acquisition cost based on the ratio between the disposal value and the total portfolio value at the time of disposal. This means that non-taxable swaps still matter because they alter the composition and value of the portfolio used later. It also means that zero-cost assets such as some airdrops can increase future taxable gains: they may raise portfolio value without increasing acquisition cost, which can reduce the allocated cost fraction on a later taxable disposal. For some taxpayers, an election into the progressive income tax scale may be relevant, but it is not automatically better because social contributions generally remain part of the analysis. Losses generally offset gains within the same tax year under the standard individual regime, but carryforward is generally not available. The €305 threshold is real, yet it is often misunderstood: it is not a substitute for proper transaction records, foreign account disclosure, or a correct Form 2086 computation.
Worked logic matters more than slogans. Example: if a taxpayer bought crypto for €10,000, later holds a portfolio worth €25,000, and makes a taxable disposal worth €5,000, the allocated acquisition cost is generally (5,000 / 25,000) × 10,000 = €2,000, so the gain is €3,000 before annual netting. If a later taxable disposal occurs, the remaining acquisition cost is no longer €10,000 but €8,000. This rolling reduction is why France crypto tax software must be configured specifically for French rules.
| Rule | Practical Treatment |
|---|---|
| Default rate: PFU 30% | The standard flat rate for many private investors is 30%, split into 12.8% income tax and 17.2% social contributions. This is the default reference point for France crypto tax under the individual digital asset regime. |
| Taxable disposal rule | A taxable event generally arises when crypto is sold for fiat or used to buy goods or services. A crypto-to-crypto swap is generally not taxed immediately for individuals under the standard regime. |
| French portfolio formula, not FIFO | Allocated acquisition cost is generally computed as: (disposal value / total portfolio value at disposal) × remaining total acquisition cost. Gain is then the disposal value minus that allocated cost. After each taxable disposal, the remaining acquisition cost is reduced by the amount already allocated. |
| Progressive-scale election may exist | Some taxpayers may elect the progressive scale instead of the default PFU, generally through the annual return. That choice must be evaluated against the taxpayer’s broader income profile and should not be assumed beneficial without calculation. |
| Losses and threshold | Taxable losses can generally offset taxable gains within the same tax year under the standard regime, but carryforward is generally not available. Net annual gains may benefit from the €305 threshold, subject to the applicable rules for the year. |
| Fees matter | Directly linked disposal fees can affect net proceeds, and acquisition-side fees may affect total acquisition cost. Missing fee data is one of the fastest ways to distort Form 2086. |
Companies do not use the private-investor regime of Article 150 VH bis. A French company holding, receiving, or transacting in digital assets is generally taxed under corporate accounting and tax rules, with treatment depending on the asset’s role in the business, the accounting policy, and the nature of the activity. Treasury holdings, inventory-like positions, proprietary trading, mining output, or customer-facing crypto services can produce different accounting consequences. This is where tax and bookkeeping must be aligned from day one: wallet segregation, valuation policy, functional currency, and supporting documentation are not optional. A company also faces a different compliance perimeter, including bookkeeping standards, annual accounts, and potentially broader regulatory questions if it operates as a crypto service provider. For operating businesses, the tax answer is often inseparable from accounting classification.
If the activity is carried out through a French or foreign company, the correct starting point is usually corporate accounting, not retail-investor tax summaries. Businesses with crypto operations often also need adjacent support in accounting, banking, and licensing; related resources include /accounting/, /bank-account-opening/crypto-business-bank-account/, /mica-license/france/, and /crypto-regulations/.
| Topic | Treatment | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate holdings and treasury positions | Crypto held by a company is generally reflected through the company’s accounting records rather than the individual PFU regime. Realized results, year-end valuation treatment, and tax adjustments depend on the applicable accounting framework and the role of the assets in the business. | Board policy, chart of accounts, wallet ownership mapping, exchange statements, valuation methodology, and year-end working papers. |
| Operating revenue received in crypto | If a company invoices clients and receives payment in BTC, ETH, or stablecoins, the business receipt is generally recognized as business revenue at its EUR value when earned or received under the applicable accounting rules. Later conversion or disposal may create additional accounting and tax consequences. | Invoices, contract terms, EUR conversion basis, payment timestamps, wallet evidence, and reconciliation to general ledger. |
| Mining, staking, validation, and protocol rewards | For companies, these receipts are generally analyzed as business income or operating income rather than private capital gains. The timing of recognition and later disposal treatment should be aligned with the accounting policy and tax file. | Node or validator reports, protocol dashboards, reward logs, EUR valuation source, and ledger postings. |
| Trading and market-making activity | A company trading crypto as part of its business is generally taxed through corporate profit computation, not via the individual digital asset formula. Internal controls are especially important where leverage, derivatives, or multiple venues are used. | Trade exports, API logs, PnL reports, counterparty data, derivatives settlement statements, and control reconciliations. |
Edge cases in France crypto tax should be analyzed by economic substance, not by protocol marketing labels. The first question is whether the event is a receipt of income-like value, a taxable disposal, a non-taxable internal transformation, or merely a reporting event. That matters because DeFi actions often bundle several legal effects into one transaction hash. A deposit into a liquidity pool can involve a transfer of beneficial rights, a receipt of LP tokens, and later reward accrual. Liquid staking can involve both a staking reward stream and a wrapper token whose classification depends on mechanics. NFT activity is also fact-sensitive: a collector selling an NFT, a creator minting and selling original works, and a marketplace royalty recipient do not necessarily sit in the same tax bucket. Derivatives add another layer because the tax analysis can depend on whether PnL is settled in fiat, stablecoins, or crypto and whether the activity resembles investment or business trading. The safe rule is to document the protocol mechanics, the exact asset received, and the EUR value at each economically meaningful step.
The strongest practical file for DeFi is protocol-specific. Keep screenshots or exports showing how the protocol works, whether rewards were automatically accrued or manually claimed, whether a token rebases, and whether a wrapper represents the same economic exposure or a new position. For regulatory background on crypto businesses and token categories, related internal resources include /mica-regulation/decentralised-finance/, /mica-regulation/non-fungible-token-nft/, /mica-regulation/stable-coin/, and /mica-license/france/.
| Event | Typical Treatment | Valuation Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Native staking rewards | Often analyzed as income-like receipts at the time of receipt, subject to facts and the applicable regime. If the rewarded tokens are later sold for fiat or spent, a separate disposal analysis may apply. A practical nuance many filers miss: validator commission retained before distribution changes the net amount actually received and should be reconciled carefully. | Fair market value in EUR at receipt; later disposal value if sold or spent. |
| Liquid staking and receipt of derivative tokens such as stETH | Treatment depends on protocol mechanics. The initial conversion into a liquid staking token may be argued as a non-taxable crypto-to-crypto transformation under the standard individual regime, but the reward mechanism, rebasing model, and later disposal must be documented. The protocol design materially affects tax analysis. | Capture EUR value at each step even if no immediate tax is assumed. |
| DeFi lending interest or protocol rewards from Aave, Compound, Morpho, or similar protocols | Interest-like receipts and incentive tokens are commonly analyzed as income-type receipts at the time they are credited or claimable, depending on the facts. Later sale or spending can create a second tax event. A useful control point is whether the protocol dashboard shows claimable rewards before actual claim. | EUR fair market value at receipt or claimable receipt point, subject to facts. |
| Liquidity pool deposits and LP tokens | This is one of the least settled retail areas. The correct analysis depends on whether the transaction is treated as a mere wrapper, an exchange into a new asset, or an economically distinct position. Impermanent loss, fees, and reward tokens should be tracked separately instead of merged into one line item. | Protocol-specific EUR valuation at deposit, reward receipt, and exit. |
| NFT investor sales, creator income, and royalties | NFT treatment is fact-sensitive. A collector disposing of an NFT, a creator minting and selling original works, and a royalty recipient may face different tax analyses. It is safer to describe the token characteristics and the economic role than to assume all NFTs are automatically treated identically to fungible digital assets. | EUR value at sale, royalty receipt, or other monetization point. |
| Futures, perpetuals, margin, and leveraged products | Treatment depends on settlement mechanics, venue statements, and whether gains are realized in fiat, stablecoins, or crypto. For active or systematic trading, classification risk increases because the activity may look more like a business than passive investing. | Exchange settlement reports, realized PnL in EUR, fees, funding payments, and collateral movements. |
| Bridging, wrapping, and moving assets across L2s | A bridge from mainnet to an L2 or a wrap from ETH to wETH is often approached as a non-taxable technical transformation if beneficial ownership is preserved, but the facts matter. The main risk is data integrity: bridge events frequently break cost tracking and create false taxable sales in generic software. | No immediate taxable basis if treated as an internal transformation, but EUR values should still be stored. |
France crypto tax filing is operationally built around Form 2086, Form 2042-C, and, where relevant, Form 3916-bis. Form 2086 is the transaction-level schedule for taxable digital asset disposals by individuals. It is where the French portfolio formula is applied for each taxable sale or crypto payment. The resulting annual figures then feed into the income tax return, typically through Form 2042-C, including the commonly referenced lines such as 3AN and 3BN and the election box used where the progressive scale is chosen. Form 3916-bis is different: it is a disclosure form for reportable foreign digital asset accounts and can apply even if no tax is due. This distinction matters because many taxpayers underreport dormant exchange accounts. Filing deadlines are published annually by the French tax administration and can vary by filing mode and department, so the official calendar on impots.gouv.fr should always be checked during the 2026 filing season.
| Period | Obligation | Owner | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| During the tax year | Track every taxable disposal, crypto payment, reward receipt, foreign custodial account, and wallet transfer with EUR values and supporting evidence. | Individual taxpayer | Continuous record-keeping |
| Before annual filing | Reconcile exchange CSVs, API data, wallet addresses, DeFi exports, fees, and tx hashes. Compute taxable disposals under the French portfolio formula for Form 2086. | Individual taxpayer or adviser | Before return preparation |
| Annual income tax return | Report digital asset gains and losses on Form 2086 and carry the annual result into Form 2042-C. Where applicable, use the relevant box for the progressive-scale election. | Individual taxpayer | Official 2026 filing deadline published by impots.gouv.fr |
| Annual disclosure of foreign accounts | Declare reportable foreign custodial digital asset accounts on Form 3916-bis. One undeclared platform relationship can create a separate penalty exposure. | Individual taxpayer | Filed with the annual return |
| Online filing season 2026 | Use impots.gouv.fr or FranceConnect access where available. Department-based online deadlines should be verified each year because they are not static. | All online filers | Check the official 2026 calendar |
Pre-filing checklist for the annual return
These items define perimeter clarity, application readiness, and first-line control credibility.
Sequence these after the core perimeter, governance, and launch-control decisions are stable.
The highest-risk France crypto tax errors are usually not exotic legal mistakes but basic compliance failures: missing Form 3916-bis, using FIFO instead of the French portfolio formula, ignoring crypto payments for goods or services, and failing to distinguish income-type receipts from capital disposals. France also applies specific penalties for failures to declare foreign accounts, and those penalties are generally assessed per undeclared account. The commonly cited framework includes penalties such as €750 or €1,500 per undeclared account depending on the circumstances, with higher exposure in certain cases where account values exceed relevant thresholds; other declaration failures can also trigger fixed penalties such as €125 or €250 and, in some cases, amounts up to €10,000 per declaration depending on the form and facts. Because amounts and conditions depend on the exact legal basis and year, the official current texts on impots.gouv.fr and Service-Public.fr should be checked before filing or correcting a return.
Legal risk: Potential penalty exposure on Form 3916-bis, generally assessed per undeclared account. A dormant account can still be reportable if it remained open.
Mitigation: Map every platform used, determine whether it is a foreign custodial account, and file 3916-bis with the annual return.
Legal risk: No immediate tax may arise under the standard individual regime, but missing swap data can corrupt the later Article 150 VH bis calculation and make Form 2086 unreliable.
Mitigation: Keep full swap history with EUR values, fees, wallet mapping, and tx hashes even where no immediate tax is assumed.
Legal risk: The resulting gain computation may be materially wrong because France generally uses a portfolio-level allocated acquisition cost formula, not simple FIFO.
Mitigation: Use a France-compatible methodology and maintain a working paper showing remaining acquisition cost after each taxable disposal.
Legal risk: A taxpayer may omit a taxable disposal by assuming only fiat sales matter. This can understate gains and weaken the filing position.
Mitigation: Treat each crypto payment like a potential disposal and keep the merchant invoice plus EUR valuation at payment time.
Legal risk: Income-type receipts may require separate treatment at receipt, with a second consequence when later disposed of.
Mitigation: Split records into two layers: receipt event and later disposal event. Store EUR value at receipt and at sale.
Legal risk: Fact-sensitive assets can be misclassified, especially where creator income, royalties, LP tokens, or liquid staking derivatives are involved.
Mitigation: Document token characteristics, protocol mechanics, and the economic role of the asset before assigning tax treatment.
Legal risk: Internal transfers may be mistaken for taxable disposals if the audit trail is incomplete or software imports duplicate movements.
Mitigation: Maintain wallet ownership maps, bridge proofs, explorer links, and internal transfer labels.
These answers reflect the standard French individual regime in 2026 context and should always be checked against the taxpayer’s facts, current DGFiP guidance, and the official forms published for the relevant filing year.
Generally, no for a private individual under the standard digital asset regime. A BTC-to-ETH swap is usually not an immediate taxable disposal. However, it still must be tracked because France later calculates taxable gains using the portfolio-level formula in Article 150 VH bis, not a simple FIFO lot method.
Generally, converting crypto to USDT or another stablecoin is treated like a crypto-to-crypto swap for a private individual and is usually not taxed immediately. That said, the transaction should still be recorded with EUR value, fees, and timestamps because it affects later calculations and audit support.
Generally, yes. Selling crypto for EUR or another fiat currency is the main taxable event for private investors in France. The gain is usually computed under the French portfolio formula and, in many cases, taxed at the default PFU 30% unless another regime or election applies.
Generally, yes. Using crypto to buy a laptop, travel, software, or any other goods or services is usually treated as a taxable disposal under the same logic as a fiat sale. The EUR value of what was purchased is the practical starting point for the disposal value.
The French PFU 30% is generally split into 12.8% income tax and 17.2% social contributions. It is the default reference rate for many private investors disposing of digital assets under the standard regime.
In some cases, yes, an election into the progressive scale may be available through the annual return. It is not automatically better. A taxpayer with low taxable income may prefer it, while another taxpayer may pay more overall once social contributions and the broader income profile are considered.
Generally, yes, taxable losses can offset taxable gains within the same tax year under the standard individual regime. However, carryforward of unused losses is generally not available in that regime, so last year’s unused losses usually cannot be applied to this year.
The €305 threshold generally means that small net annual taxable gains under the standard regime may be exempt. It does not mean record-keeping can be ignored, and it does not remove separate obligations such as declaring reportable foreign custodial accounts on Form 3916-bis.
Often, yes, if the platform account is a reportable foreign custodial digital asset account. This is usually done on Form 3916-bis. A self-custody wallet that you control directly is not the same thing as a foreign custodial exchange account, so the distinction matters.
Generally, a pure self-hosted wallet is not treated the same way as a foreign custodial account for 3916-bis purposes. The reporting focus is usually on accounts opened with foreign platforms or service providers. When in doubt, document who controls the private keys and the legal nature of the platform relationship.
Staking rewards are generally analyzed separately from capital gains. They may be treated as income-type receipts at the time of receipt, subject to the facts and applicable regime. If those rewarded tokens are later sold for fiat or spent, a separate disposal analysis may then apply.
Airdrops are fact-sensitive. The receipt may or may not be analyzed as immediate income depending on the circumstances, but a later taxable disposal can still generate a significant gain. A practical reason is that some zero-cost or low-cost receipts increase portfolio value without proportionally increasing acquisition cost.
No blanket rule is safe here. NFT treatment can depend on the token’s characteristics and the taxpayer’s role. A collector sale, creator mint-and-sale activity, and royalty income do not necessarily fall into the same tax analysis.
The core forms are usually Form 2086 for taxable digital asset disposals, Form 2042-C for summary reporting of the annual result, and Form 3916-bis for reportable foreign digital asset accounts. The exact filing flow should be checked on impots.gouv.fr for the relevant year.
The 2026 filing season generally covers the prior calendar year, but exact deadlines depend on the official annual calendar published by the French tax administration. Online deadlines usually vary by department, so the correct answer is to verify the current dates on impots.gouv.fr rather than rely on old guide pages.
France crypto tax becomes technical as soon as the file includes foreign exchanges, DeFi, staking, NFTs, or multiple disposals in one year. The highest-value work is usually not form filling but classification, reconciliation, and building a clean audit trail that matches DGFiP expectations. If you need help with French crypto reporting, cross-border structuring, or a business setup involving digital assets, start with a scoped review rather than a generic calculator output.
