Fourteen countries in Europe—Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom—currently levy a type of financial transaction tax.
The FTTs vary significantly in the applicable rates as well as the scope of transactions covered across different European countries. For example, Switzerland levies a 0.15-0.30 percent stamp duty on the transfer of equities and bonds involving a Swiss securities dealer, while France implemented an FTT that taxes equity trades at 0.4 percent and high-frequency-trading at 0.01 percent.
FTTs directly increase the cost of raising equity capital to finance business investment. Due to the strong negative response of transaction volumes and share prices to higher transaction costs, they frequently fail to achieve their revenue goals.
Since 2011, the European Commission tabled proposals for an EU-wide FTT that would levy a 0.1 percent tax on the transfer of shares and bonds and a 0.01 percent tax on derivative contracts. However, negotiations came to a halt due to resistance from several EU member states, and in its work programme for 2026, the Commission indicated that it intends to withdraw the FTT proposal.
Recent Changes
Several European countries have made changes to their FTTs in the past years. France has raised its FTT rate from 0.3 to 0.4 percent in April 2025, and Italy doubled its cash-equity rates from January 2026. The Slovak Republic introduced a new transactions tax of 0.4 percent on gross debits from business bank accounts (max €40 per transaction) and 0.8 percent on cash withdrawals in 2025, from which sole traders are exempted since 2026.
In contrast, Finland reduced its FFT rates from a maximum of 2.0 percent to a uniform 1.5 percent in 2024. Ireland introduced an exemption for Irish-listed SMEs from its FTT in 2025. The United Kingdom started to apply a three-year relief to securities of newly listed companies in the London Stock Exchange from November 2025. Cyprus repealed its stamp duty from January 2026.
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