Am I now self employed? Is Auto Entrepreneur scheme the answer?

Congratualtions on a wonderful resource.

I am a UK national domiciled in France, but since Jan 09 have been living & working in Italy.

I am employed by a Caymen registered company who are building a yacht in Italy. I was advised I would receive an employment contract like any other salaried employee & that contributions would be made on my behalf.  The contract has not been forthcoming, cotisations have not been paid, but my wages have been received into my French account.  My employment is due to end in May, when I will return to France. They do not intend to issue me with a contract for the remaining 2 months.

It is my understanding that without the originally agreed contract, the French authorities would consider me to be self –employed, and I did not register as self employed before I left France because I was advised I would be an employee of the company.

I am hoping one course of action would be to register as an auto entrepreneur when I return to France (my gross annual earnings & nature of employment will allow this) and retrospectively pay any cotisations and tax due.  It was always my intention to register as an AE on my return, so I could begin work as a researcher.

I am disappointed to find myself in this position, which I think amounts to working illegally and would be grateful for any other ideas or suggestions of any immediate action I should take (even suspending my employment) to rectify this situatation as soon as possible.

Many thanks.