How to become a private entrepreneur in France?

A private entrepreneur (auto-entrepreneur) is a person who establishes his or her own enterprise (micro-entreprise) for the purpose of commercial, handicraft or free professional activity.

A private entrepreneur can also have the following statuses: “micro-entrepreneur”, ‘travailleur indépendant’ or sometimes ‘freelance’.

Advantages of being a private entrepreneur:

• Open to everyone and can be combined with other activities (employee, unemployed, student, pensioner, etc.).
• There is no need for initial financial capital, i.e. you do not need to have start-up capital to start a private enterprise.
• Easy calculation and payment of social security contributions (a fixed percentage of the turnover that you have to pay for social guarantees: health insurance or pension contributions).
• Вам не потрібно сплачувати податки або соціальні внески за період, коли відсутній прибуток у підприємства.
• Easy accounting (declaration of data on all cash receipts each month).
• You do not need to pay value added tax (taxe sur la valeur ajoutée, TVA).
• You can use the help in creating or recreating an enterprise (aide à la création ou à la reprise d'une entreprise).

With the status of a private entrepreneur annual turnover (i.e., money received in 1 year) should not exceed:

• 77 700 € for artisanal (food industry, construction, services, manufacturing, etc.) or free service activities (translator, copywriter, coach, trainer, consultant, etc.);
• 188 700 € for commercial activities (e.g., purchase and sale of goods in a store or on the Internet, restaurant business, etc.)

If you exceed these limits, you are obliged to change the status of the company.

Disadvantages of the status:

• Limited social protection (lack of income in case of illness, workplace accidents, etc.).
• Difficulty finding social or private housing (since the money earned each month is not fixed, and landlords usually require an employment contract and pay stubs).
• Unemployment benefits under certain conditions.
• Limit on cash turnover.

Step-by-step instructions for registration:

All the main stages of the company's existence, from the beginning (déclaration) to the termination of its activities (cessation), as well as changes, must be carried out on the website: https://formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr

This site is a “single point of access”. You can find a lot of useful information in the “S'informer” section at the top left of the page.

To start your microenterprise, click «Déclarer» («Declare»)and you will go to the site INPI.

Then, within INPI Connect, click “Première visite? Créez-vous un compte“ (”First time? Create an account").

You can also sign in with your username and password via FranceConnect* using an account you already have (e.g., a tax or health insurance account).

At the end, you will receive a link by email to verify your account. You have 5 days to follow the link and confirm your account.

Once your account is verified, log back into your personal space on the site.

In the Entreprises section, click “Déposer une formalité de création d'entreprise” (“Submit a company formation”). Then click the “Créer une entreprise” button.

To register as a sole proprietor, at the beginning of the procedure, you must choose the format of the enterprise to be created - “Entrepreneur individuel” (“Individual entrepreneur”).

Once your private enterprise is officially established, you will receive a registration number: SIREN (9 digits) and SIRET (SIREN + 5 additional digits, i.e. 14 digits in total).

These two numbers are unique and allow you to identify your company. Both numbers act as an entrepreneur's identity card and are requested for all administrative procedures.

You will also receive an APE (activité principale exercée) code, a 4-digit + 1 letter code that identifies the main activity of the microenterprise. The APE code is also sometimes called the “NAF code” (Nomenclature des Activites Francaises).

For the day-to-day management of your microenterprise, you must create your personal account on the website: autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr.

Everything is explained here.

URSSAF (Unions de Recouvrement des Cotisations de Sécurité Sociale et d'Allocations Familiales) - is a social security and family benefits levy union that registers and collects contributions and social security from businesses.

In your personal account, you have access to all URSSAF services for private entrepreneurs:

• Declare cash flow;
• Pay social contributions;
• Download certificates (on membership, contribution to professional training, taxes, etc.);
• Contact a URSSAF consultant via online chat.

It is on the website autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr you can apply for ACRE in parallel with the establishment of your own company, without waiting for the receipt of documents.

To read the terms and conditions and make a request, please visit this page.

If the answer is yes, you will receive a certificate of enrollment in ACRE.

If the answer is no, URSSAF will explain the reasons why.

If you do not receive a response within 30 days, the decision is considered positive.

*See Réfugiés.info's post “Connect to a website with FranceConnect”.