This might come as a surprise to you, as it was to me! It was announced in June that social charges for some micro entrepreneurs would increase from July 2024. We’ve been talking about this for years, but no action was planned and suddenly out of the blue, a law was passed! In this article, I’m explaining who will be impacted by this increase, why and by how much.
1 - Who is impacted by the Micro Entrepreneur social charges increase
From July 2024, professions libérales will see an increase of their social charges contributions. This is you if you are a coach, consultant, yoga teacher, programmer, web designer, content editor, community manager, etc.
Professions libérales are also referred to as “BNC - Bénéfice Non Commercial”. You can check this on your INPI synthèse validée, INSEE attestation or Impots Memento fiscal, all key documents received after registering your business.
You also need to go and check when you initially registered your micro entrepreneur, as the tax increase will impact you differently if you created your business before or after 2018.
If you are a commerçant or artisan this increase doesn’t affect you. As a reminder, acriviré commercial is buy-to-resell, conciergerie services, gites registered with Chambre e Commerce/Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce. And activité artisanale are manual activities registered with Chambre de Métiers. Entrepreneurs under these two activities received an Extrait KBIS when they register.
Phew! Or why may some people say? Explanation in section 2…
2 - Why is there a social charges increase for profession libérale
In 2018, the government asked CIPAV, the body managing top-up pensions for professions libérales to stop handling non-regulated professions liberales. This job was passed onto Sécurité Sociale des Indépendants (SSI, formerly known as RSI), which manages the Retraite Complémentaire des Indépendants (RCI).
However, there was an issue, as the contributions made to SSI were too low, and therefore didn’t allow micro entrepreneurs to contribute towards their top-up pension “retraite complémentaire”. Yes, the bad news is that from 2018 to 2024, you paid into the basic state pension but not into a top-up pension.
There is no mention to this date, whether entrepreneurs will be able to buy back these missing years of top-up pension, by paying extra into the system. I’ll keep an eye on this topic for you.
The increase in social charges has therefore been voted to fix a known issue for micro entrepreneurs and will improve your future pension.
3 - How much increase is there from July for professions libérales
As always with France, there is no straight answer. The increase will vary according to when you created your Micro Entrepreneur, i.e. before or after 2018. Why is that? Because micro entrepreneurs registered before 2018 are affiliated to CIPAV, while those created after relate to SSI. Each of these bodies manages pension funds for entrepreneurs.
Based on when you created your business and who manages your top-up pension CIPAV or SSI, you will either have a one-off increase of 2 points of percentage (CIPAV or registered before 2018), or a steady increase of 5 points of percentage between 2024 and 2026 (registered after 2018).
Social charges increase for Professions Libérales
- You relate to CIPAV or registered before 2018: increase from 21.2% to 23.2% in July 2024.
- You registered your business after 2018: increase from 21.1% to 23.1% in July 2024, then 24.6% in July 2025 and 26.1% in July 2026.
4 - Is it good news or bad news
I guess that an increase of social charges is always seen as bad news by entrepreneurs, as everything seems to be increasing and it will reduce their profit.
For expatriates planning to stay in France only for a couple of years, there is no real benefit. However, for those of you planning to stay in France long term, this is rather good news, as your pension will increase.
What should you do short term? Look into which category you fit in, so you can plan the tax increase. It may also be time to review your prices, not to lose out short term.
5 - More information soon
I’ll be recording a new YouTube video on this topic shortly - Make sure you subscribe to my channel.
I have updated my Micro Entrepreneur Factsheet next week to reflect these changes. Download a copy of the Micro Entrepreneur Factsheet.
