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Create your auto-entreprise
Are you thinking of starting a business in France? Become an entrepreneur in just a few minutes and pay taxes only if you get paid. With very little paperwork to do, starting your company as an independent contractor (‘auto-entrepreneur’ or ‘micro-entrepreneur’ in French) is easier than any other type of company structure. Let us explain why this could be the best choice for you and your projects as we guide you through this process.
Why start your journey as a freelancer?
Being self-employed gives you freedom and autonomy. You can manage your own time and choose your own hours: work in the morning if you are an early bird, or late in the evening if you are a night owl while avoiding rush hour traffic.
Starting your business means defining your own goals, choosing your own priorities and launching the personal projects you care about. No one will impose their choices on you: freedom is your best motivation and the sky is the limit!
Step out of your comfort zone, take up new challenges and develop your skills more than you would ever have as an employee. Running your own company will give you a wealth of experience and skills.
Create your own job and bring your values to the world. Thanks to your business, you can act to make the world a better place. The revenue you get from your work is your money. Do what you love and raise your income!
The French government has been supporting company creations over the last decade, with several social measures and services. As a result, the company count has skyrocketed in recent years. Now is the right time to get started!
Why the best choice is ‘auto-entreprise’
When you create a company in France, you have to choose from a variety of different company structures, which could be a bit discouraging, or at best, overwhelming. However, even if you have no experience or no legal knowledge, you can easily start your ‘auto-entreprise’.
You wonder what ‘auto-entreprise’ is? This status was created in France in 2009 as the government wanted to encourage self-employment. The concept? Offering sole traders a simplified legal framework to make company creation and management as smooth as possible.
This type of company offers various core advantages:
- Open to nearly everyone: students, full-time or part-time employees, job seekers, civil servants, salaried officers, retired people, etc.
- Less complicated process and paperwork.
- Reasonable social costs and tax charges.
- Simple bookkeeping.
- You don’t need to charge VAT under a defined amount of sales revenue.
- Entitled for health insurance.
- You can register in a few minutes.
Starting your business suddenly becomes both quick and easy!
With simplified accounting, taxes and social costs you can start working with flexibility and peace of mind.
As an ‘auto-entrepreneur’, you can test new ideas or start a new activity without taking too much financial risk, seeing as you only pay taxes based on the sales you make. Therefore, you can multitask and keep your current job while trying this new business out on the side first.
If you like to work from home or if you need a secondary income, becoming a sole proprietorship is definitely a good choice. If you’re still looking for ideas, why not become a delivery person or work with a freelance platform?
What jobs for freelancers?
Ok, we know that starting a company as an ‘auto-entrepreneur' is really simple. Now what jobs are possible for freelancers? How do I know if I can work as a freelancer?
Most activities are not regulated when you choose to set up your company as an ‘auto-entrepreneur’. Some other activities require a degree, certified training or some years of experience, for example hairdressers, plumbers, or construction and repair jobs. Yet, some activities and some regulated professions are legally excluded from the ‘auto-entrepreneur’ company structure. They are for instance in the fields of health (like chemists), law (judges), agriculture (farmers), real estate (real estate agents or property traders) and artistic creation.
Altogether, a wide range of activities are possible for ‘auto-entrepreneurs’. Recently, Portail Auto-Entrepreneur has worked with many builders, carpenters, business consultants and home hairdressers, just to name a few. We have also helped private teachers, translators, graphic designers or web designers set up their business.
Being a foreigner in France or a person who doesn’t speak French is not an issue to start a business as an ‘auto-entrepreneur’. All you need is a postal address in France and a residence and work permit. So, are you ready to start your new adventure?
A series of benefits
You may be concerned with not earning a living straight away, at least for the first few months, but remember: France is encouraging entrepreneurship with a series of benefits for ‘auto-entreprise’ small businesses.
For example, if you receive unemployment benefits, they will be continued if you become an ‘auto-entrepreneur’. Banks can grant loans and specific micro-credits. The French government has also implemented a number of measures to facilitate company creation. The state grants support for the creation or takeover of a business (ACRE, Aide à la Création ou à la Reprise d’une Entreprise) and social securtiy cost and taxes can be reduced under your first year of business. There are benefits for low-wage employees (Prime d’activité), equally for foreign residents living in France. With all that, starting as an 'auto-entrepreneur' can be done without taking too many risks and losing your income guarantees.
Portail Auto-Entrepreneur is Your Partner in Success
You feel like this might be the right moment to start your business as an independent contractor, but you are not quite sure how to proceed? You feel like you might need assistance during that process as most of the paperwork has to be done in French? Do not worry, Portail Auto-entrepreneur can assist you!
Our team of experts will walk you through the entire legal and administrative process. We will therefore check all your application and make sure everything is correct before your information is sent to the French administration. We provide fully personalised advice and support for the set-up of your company and its day-to-day running.
What does all this really mean?
You may have noticed the French administration has a limited number of English speakers, if any! With Portail Auto-Entrepreneur, we help you get through all of this with our English-speaking advisors. Once you have registered with us, they will give you personal assistance and support for any question and situation. As Portail Auto-Entrepreneur is an online and telephone service, it means that you can contact your personal advisor by email or by phone, for any question, at any time.
For a smooth management of your ‘auto-entreprise’, and once it has been created, our online accounting and billing tool is designed to help you run your company and revenues on a daily basis. Do not waste time trying to figure out how to declare your revenues. Using our comprehensive tool, your company’s social costs and taxes are calculated automatically, so that you don’t need to think about it.
Moreover, for those of you who can read French, Portail Auto-Entrepreneur also has a blog and a Knowledge Base on its website. You will find detailed information on all topics related to ‘auto-entreprise’. Our Facebook pages, our help groups and our Instagram account are also here for you to ask for and share information and experiences. Our experts post information every day and we are proud of our lively online ‘auto-entrepreneurs’ community, with over 100,000 members.
Now that you know more about the ‘auto-entrepreneur' status, are you feeling ready to join the adventure and start your business? We can help you start and make your project a success ! Call us for any question or fill in our English form online to register directly!
Ready?
