Self-employed status at the highest level since its creation in 2009

The craze for the microentrepreneur or self-entrepreneur status is not waning. Quite the contrary. With its 667,400 new registrations last year (a level never reached before) and an anticipation of 750,000 for 2024, this regime has given a particular boost to the creation of French businesses since it came into force in January 2009. The simplicity of the operating procedures, both at the start-up and in the management of the activity, with a reduction in administrative and tax constraints, is one of the keys to success.

This system is nevertheless subject to a few rules to prevent it from distorting the game vis-à-vis entrepreneurs established in a company or operating as a sole proprietorship. Microenterprises must not achieve a turnover excluding tax of more than 188,700 euros for the sale of goods and 77,000 euros for the provision of services. They do not pay VAT on part of their activity. Finally, for their taxation, they benefit from a variable reduction depending on the type of activity: 34% (for the provision of services covered by BNC), 50% (provision of services covered by BIC) or 71% (sales activities).

Independence

What is also attractive about the microentrepreneur status is that it is open to everyone. It gives employees or retirees in particular the opportunity to carry out an activity that provides them with additional income. However, this system has also been criticized for encouraging the development of digital platforms, such as Uber or Deliveroo, whose services are mainly provided by microentrepreneurs despite the risk that they are economically dependent on their employer.

Many business creators started as microentrepreneurs

François Hurel, president of the Union of Self-Employed Entrepreneurs

For François Hurel, president of the Union of Self-Employed Entrepreneurs (UAE) and one of the architects of the development of this status, “its success over the past fifteen years is a clear demonstration that the fundamentals of this regime, which are universality and accumulation, are a recipe that suits French people aspiring to independence.” However, it remains the case that only a third of microentrepreneurs work exclusively for a net income of 10,000 euros per year on average.

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“Many business creators started out as microentrepreneurs. It’s a step that allows you to test your business without risk.”assures François Hurel. But it is difficult to measure how many microentrepreneurs have subsequently created their own company in the absence of a “microentrepreneur” box in the “origin” section of the business registration forms.

Unfair competition

François Hurel points out the recurring requests to limit the duration of exercise under this regime to two years. “Self-employed people are a bit like popcorn kernels, he points. They don’t all burst at the same time. Some microentrepreneurs develop their business faster than others. But what makes this system so rich is that it allows autonomy and freedom.”

The president of the UAE does not hesitate to remind us: in 2014, when Sylvia Pinel, then Minister Delegate for Crafts, had tightened the conditions of affiliation under pressure from craftsmen, who accused self-employed entrepreneurs of unfair competition, registrations had fallen by more than 20% in 2015.

While more than two months after the dissolution of the National Assembly the French political situation remains uncertain, François Hurel launches an appeal. “Above all, do not touch the microentrepreneur regime, he said. Focus on the things that don’t work in France, there are enough of them. But forget the microentrepreneur regime, which has proven its effectiveness.. Especially since one of the successes of this regime is precisely to have been relatively stable since its creation.”