Starting a business in France
The micro-entrepreneur regime does the first years for almost everyone - one portal, percentage contributions, and thresholds worth knowing by heart.
Checked against the sources on 2026-08-30
Before anything else
France consolidated every business formality onto one portal in 2023: the guichet unique at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, run by the INPI. Whatever you found - micro-entreprise, SASU, EURL - the filing goes through there, and guides describing the old CFE counters are out of date.
For a first business the micro-entrepreneur regime is the honest default: registration is free, bookkeeping is a revenue ledger, and social contributions are a fixed percentage of what you actually invoice - no revenue, no charges. The whole question is whether its ceilings and its no-expense-deduction logic fit your business.
The legal shell
Micro, or a real company?
Micro-entrepreneur
Services under ~€77,700 or sales under ~€188,700 a year, and costs that are a small share of revenue.
Free to register. Contributions ~21-22% of service revenue, less for sales; an optional flat income-tax rate (versement libératoire) on top.
No expense deduction at all - the regime taxes revenue, not profit. Heavy costs make it a bad deal fast. VAT exemption ends at its own, lower thresholds.
EURL / SASU
Past the ceilings, deducting real costs, or building something investable. SASU pays the president through payroll; EURL puts the gérant in the self-employed scheme - cheaper contributions, more paperwork.
Publication and filing ~€200-400 plus whatever drafting help you buy.
Real accounting from day one - budget for an expert-comptable, roughly €1,000-2,000 a year.
The sequence
File on the guichet unique
Where: formalites.entreprises.gouv.frCost: €0 for a micro-entrepriseTakes: An online form; SIREN/SIRET arrive within days
You declare the activity, the regime, and the options - notably the declaration frequency (monthly or quarterly) and the versement libératoire if your household income allows it. The SIRET number that comes back goes on every invoice.
Claim ACRE if it applies
ACRE halves social contributions for roughly the first year for eligible founders (job-seekers, under-26s, and others). For micro-entrepreneurs it must be requested at registration or within 45 days - it is not automatic, and missing the window costs real money.
Watch out: The 45-day window. This is the single most-missed cheap win in the French system.
Declare and pay as you go
Where: autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr
Every month or quarter you declare revenue - including zero - and pay the percentage. Late or missing declarations carry small fixed penalties that add up, and repeated zeros for two years close the regime.
Watch the VAT franchise separately
The franchise en base keeps you VAT-free up to roughly €36,800 (services) / €91,900 (sales) - lower than the regime ceilings, so you can owe VAT while still comfortably micro. A 2025 reform to cut the franchise to €25,000 was suspended after protest; check the current figure before relying on it.
What it costs to start
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Micro registration | €0 |
| Social contributionsRoughly halved in year one with ACRE. | ~21-22% of service revenue |
| CFE (local business tax)Exempt in the first calendar year; varies by commune. | €150-800/year |
| Company route with accountantFormation plus the expert-comptable. | €1,500-3,000/year |
The words on the forms
- Guichet unique / INPI
- The single formalities portal since 2023.
- SIREN / SIRET
- The business identifier, and the per-establishment version that goes on invoices.
- Micro-entrepreneur
- The simplified regime (ex auto-entrepreneur): percentage contributions on revenue.
- URSSAF
- The contributions agency, and the portal where declarations happen.
- ACRE
- The first-year contribution reduction - request it within 45 days.
- Franchise en base de TVA
- The VAT exemption with its own thresholds below the regime ceilings.
- CFE
- The local business property tax, arriving from year two.
The traps
- Missing the ACRE window at registration.
- Crossing the VAT franchise while watching only the micro ceiling.
- Heavy real costs inside a regime that deducts nothing.
- Forgetting the CFE exists because year one was exempt.
- Client dependence: France also polices salariat déguisé, and one-client micros are the target profile.
Where to check this yourself
- Guichet uniqueEvery filing, every form.
- URSSAF auto-entrepreneurRates, thresholds, declarations.
- Bpifrance CréationThe best plain-language reference on regimes.
This is a map, not legal or tax advice - and an honest one about how it was drawn: the Germany guide was written by a person who walked the route; most other countries were drafted with AI against the official sources and have not yet been walked by someone who did it. Laws change. Every guide carries the date it was last checked and the sources to check it yourself - and if you have been through one of these routes, your corrections are exactly what this handbook wants.