Guide to Micro-Entrepreneur Business in France

1. What is a Micro-Entrepreneur?
2. Business Registration
3. Social Security
4. Income Tax
5. Business Rates
6. Status of Spouse/Partner
7. Should You Elect for Micro-Entreprise Status?
8. VAT (TVA)
9. Payment of Taxes and Social Insurance
10. Business Accounting
11. Running a Chambre d'Hôte
12. Multiple Business Activities
13. Professional Insurance
14. Second-Hand Sales

3. Social Security Contributions

Affiliation to the social security (and health) system takes effect from the date of business registration, as the government confirms: 'l'inscription à la Sécurité sociale pour les indépendants prend effet à partir de la date de début d'activité.'

In return, a business owner pays social security contributions, which go mainly to health cover and retirement pensions.

The social security charges system for micro-entrepreneurs is called micro-social.

Under micro-social you pay a fixed percentage social security contribution rate on your turnover.

Accordingly, your liability to social security contributions is based on your cash receipts, not your profit or loss.

If you wish to be taxed on the basis of your actual profit or loss, you cannot adopt micro-entrepreneur tax status. You will need to register your business on a different basis, called the régime réel.

As social security contributions are high, and accounting requirements for micro businesses low, low reporting of sales is not uncommon, a fact that has come to the attention of the government who in 2023 announced a reinforcement of tax controls on micro-entrepreneurs.

3.1. Start-Up Relief

Up until the end of 2019 all new micro-entreprise start-ups were entitled to three years social security contributions relief on a sliding scale.

The relief was granted at the rate of 75% in the first year, 50% in the second year and 25% in the third year.

The scheme under which relief is granted is called 'ACRE' – Aide aux Créateurs et Repreneurs d'Entreprise.

Since January 2020, and further in 2026, the scheme has been substantially changed, reducing the relief to existing beneficiaries and restricting relief only to certain groups of persons.

ACRE applies to new self-employed businesses, including landlords of furnished properties who set up as a micro-entrepreneur.

However ACRE is only granted if:

• Annual professional income is below €48,060 (2026)

• The owner has not benefited from ACRE in the previous 3 years

Applicants must also be in a 'precarious situation'.

Those who qualify on this basis are;

• Unemployment benefit recipients;
• Unemployed and registered with France Travail for ≥ 6 months (last 18 months);
• RSA or ASS beneficiaries;
• Under 25 years old;
• Under 30 and disabled or not eligible for unemployment benefits;
• Former employees of companies in liquidation or restructuring.

Perhaps of greatest interest to expatriates is that, in addtion, also eligible are those creating a business in an urban or rural developement area. These areas are widespread in France.

ACRE grants a 50% reduction in social insurance contributions for up to 12 months.

Thus, whatever the nature of your activity, and the fixed social security contribution that applies, the ACRE rate is 50% of the standard rate for up to 12 months.

More precisely, the exemption applies until the end of the third calendar quarter following the date of start of activity declared (or registration) of the company. On this basis, it is advisable to start the business at the beginning of the calendar quarter (January, April, July or October) and make an application immediately following completion to maximise the duration of the assistance.

Application Procedure

The application process is undertaken as part of the busieness registration on the business registration website. You then send the application form to URSSAF, the social security agency, with whom you need to open an account.

3.2. Standard Rates

The standard fixed rates payable (2026) depends on the nature of your business activity, as follows:

• Commercial Sales - A commercial sales business (ventes des marchandises), including restaurants, hotels and chambres d'hotes pay at the rate of 12.30% in social security charges.
• Services/Trade - A 'service' based business (prestation de service) pays 21.20% of their turnover in social contributions. This includes furnished lettings, other than those which are classed.
• Professional Services - If you are in one of the professions libérales, the rate applicable from 1st Jan 2026 is 26.10%/23.20%, depending on activity. You can read more at Micro-entrepreneur Social Security Contributions.

In summary the rates from 1st Jan 2026 are:

Some trade based activities are also commercial in nature (such as the building trade), and the dual nature of the activity makes them artisan-commerçant. The converse can also apply, ie commerçant-artisan. You will pay 21.2% social security contributions on the trade activity and 12.3% on commercial sales. Thus, the buying and selling of goods is the latter, whilst the construction and repair of property is the former.

This means they are subject to two different turnover limits on their activity (see Chapter 1), and they need to declare separately their turnover for each activity.

Those who merely sell products they produce do not need dual status.

3.3. Ancillary Contributions

To the above main social security contribution rates needs to be added some other small levies.

i. Professional Training Contribution

The first is a small charge towards professional training - la contribution de formation professionnelle.

The rate of this contribution depends on your business activity, as follows:

• 0.1% for commercial activities;
• 0.3% for trade/artisan activities;
• 0.2% for service activities and professions libérales.

Charge is collected on turnover from previous year.

ii. Chambre Contribution

Sales based businesses (commerçants) are also required to affiliate to their local Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie (CCI) and trade based professions (artisans) to the Chambre des Métiers et de l'Artisanat (CMA). The charge is called Taxe pour frais de chambre consulaire.

The rates are as follows:

• 0.015% for resale/commercial activities/accommodation;
• 0.48% for trade activities;
• 0.22% for artisan sales
• 0.044% for service activities;
• 0.0% for the professions libérales, both RSI and Cipav

Artisans with a double affiliation to two chambres pay 0.007%.

As can be seen, the professions libérales pay no such contribution.

3.4. Summary

We can therefore summarise these standard contributions as follows:

We published an article on France Insider to compare the tax efficiency of different business structures, which you can read at Limited Company or Micro-Entreprise.

Next: Income Tax

Back: Micro-Entrepreneur Business Registration