I recently mentioned the issue of auto-entrepreneurs having registered their business in 2009 and having been rejected from this regime, because their “pro-rata” turnover was over the allowed threshold. This issue is about to be settled as Hervé Novelli, secretary of state for SMEs, agreed to solve the case for auto-entrepreneurs who exceeded their turnover thresholds in 2009 because of this specific rule.
Reminder of the auto-entrepreneur turnover threshold
As an auto-entrepreneur, your maximum yearly turnover is 80,300€ for trade and 32,100€ for services. There is a small allowance enabling you to remain registered as an auto-entrepreneur for 2 years, provided you remain bellow 88,300€ for trade and 34,100€ for services.
What happens if you go over the auto-entrepreneur turnover limit
When going over this turnover threshold, your business will automatically switch “régime’’ from auto entrepreneur to “regime reel simplifié”. This will imply that you will become VAT registered and therefor will start paying VAT from the day your turnover goes over 34,100€ or 88,300€ according to your activity. Your social charges will be based on a standard yearly fee or “forfait de charges sociales”, with a “regularisation” or balance payment taking place one year down the line, once your real turnover has been declared. All in all your social charges will represent about 46% of your income. You will also have to comply with stricter accountancy rules.
What is the auto-entrepreneur prorata temporis rule
Your maximum yearly turnover of 88,100€ and 32,100€ is based on a full year of activity. So if you started your French business on 1st March 2010 as a marketing consultant, your maximum yearly turnover for this year is (32,100€ /12)*10= 26,750€. URSSAF is pushing this calculation even further by taking the exact number of days!
How to calculate your maximum auto-entrepreneur turnover
The Agence Pour la Creation des Entreprises (APCE) has created an online tool to calculate your maximum turnover as an auto-entrepreneur.
1. Go to the second section entitled “Les seuils applicables la première année d’activité » :
2. Enter your business starting date « Date de début de l’activité »
3. Choose your activity type
- trade (online, shops, markets) - vente de marchandises
- food (take aways, restaurants, snacks) - fournitures de denrées à emporter ou consommer sur place
- accomodation - gîtes, B&B, hôtels, chambres d’hôtes, gîtes ruraux, meublés de tourisme
- manual services such as hairdressers, beautician , homme de toutes main – services
- intellectual services, e.g. consultant, translator, programmer, etc – profession libérales,
4. Click on Calculer and you will know what your maximum turnover is for 2010.
So what do you need to do if you have been kicked out of the auto-entrepreneur regime because of the prorata rule? You need to get in touch with RSI or URSSAF (according to your activity) and quote this article from Les Echos.