Setting up as a micro-entrepreneur in France: registering on the one-stop shop

Step by step

1. Check your activity and your situation. Check whether your activity is regulated (diploma, permit from the town hall, approval): you will need to attach the proof. If you are an employee, you can do both as long as your contract has no exclusivity clause, you do not compete with your employer and you work on it outside your working hours. Some activities are excluded from the micro-enterprise scheme: those subject to property VAT, farming activities under the MSA, and professions that belong to a pension fund other than the Cipav or the self-employed scheme (medical and legal professions, chartered accountants...).
2. Choose your name and address. Your micro-business carries your first name and surname, preceded or followed by entrepreneur individuel or EI; a trading name is optional. You can register it at home, in business premises, with a domiciliation company or in a coworking space. If it is your home address, you can ask Insee not to publish it.
3. Register on the one-stop shop. Create your account on the guichet des formalités des entreprises and fill in the creation form (you can save a draft). Attach ID, proof of the business address (water, electricity or gas bill), the sworn statement of no criminal conviction and the parentage statement, and, depending on your case, the diploma or permit, or documents linked to marriage or a Pacs.
4. Choose your options at the start. On the social security side, you declare your turnover monthly by default; to switch to quarterly, ask URSSAF within a month of starting. On the tax side, you can opt for the flat-rate tax payment (versement libératoire, paid with your contributions) if your household's reference taxable income from two years earlier is below a ceiling: at the start, or by the last day of the 3rd month after you start at the latest. The site's simulator compares both.
5. Keep your receipt, then get your numbers. When you file, you receive a receipt marked en attente d'immatriculation (pending registration), valid for 1 month at most: it already lets you take out your insurance. If a document is missing, you have 15 working days to send it. Once registration is done, your certificate with your SIREN and SIRET numbers and APE code is in your account on the one-stop shop; Insee no longer issues a certificate.
6. Apply for Acre if you qualify. Acre cuts your contributions by a quarter until the end of the 3rd calendar quarter after you start. It is not automatic: send the form to URSSAF within 60 days, with the proof of creation downloaded from the one-stop shop and proof that you qualify (paid unemployment benefit, aged 18 to 25, RSA, priority neighbourhood...), provided you have not had it in the previous 3 years. Starting at the beginning of a quarter makes the reduced period longer.
7. Set up your admin. Create your account on autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr (email address and Social Security number): your first turnover return is due 90 days after you start at the earliest. Open a bank account for the business: a dedicated account is compulsory from the outset for a commercial activity, and for other activities once your turnover exceeds a threshold two years running. Keep a record of takings (livre des recettes, plus a purchases register if you sell goods) and issue invoices with the compulsory details.

Documents to prepare

• Your ID
• Proof of the business address with a clearly identifiable address (water, electricity or gas bill)
• The sworn statement of no criminal conviction and the parentage statement, dated and signed
• For a regulated activity: the diploma, qualification or licence to practise
• If you are married under a community property regime or your spouse works with you: the required statements and the marriage or Pacs certificate extract
• For Acre: the proof of creation and proof that you qualify (France Travail notice, RSA certificate...)

Pitfalls to avoid

• Starting without being registered: trading without being on the national business register (RNE) is a criminal offence.
• Forgetting to apply for Acre within 60 days: it is never granted automatically.
• Opting for the flat-rate tax payment without stopping your withholding instalments: cancel them in your impots.gouv.fr account (Gérer mon prélèvement à la source).
• Starting an activity that competes with your employer, or working on it during your hours: you risk dismissal for serious or gross misconduct.
• Thinking your micro-business will give you unemployment rights: the micro-social scheme does not entitle you to France Travail benefit.