Which business regime should I start in France?

I am starting a business assembling rosettes (flots in French) for dog, horse, poultry shows and anything else viable. When I first talked to the chambre de commerce they said suggested a microbic Sales commerce, but the next lady said I need to register with the chambre de metiers. At a meeting with the chambre de metiers and after filling all the forms in, the lady said it could not be classed as a Sales business, but must be a Service business.

This meant the threshold of turnover dropped from 82,500 euros to 32,000 euros and the social charges rose from 13% to 23%. After the cost of buying materials, there would be very little profit left, certainly not enough to live on. I wanted to stay in microbic mainly because our clients would not be able to recuperate the TVA and with a club potential ordering 5,000 euros of rosettes, that would mean they would be paying 1,000 euros in TVA.

Secondly the social charges payable are pro rata to your turnover, a lot easier for a startup business. If I opt for reel, firstly our clients have to pay the TVA and we have to pay RSI before we are really making a profit (we fell foul to this when we had a florist’s business, because we had an inept accountant).

My father in law has a sleeping SASU which we could use, but I don’t know how you withdraw a salary and whether you need to add yourself into the SASU as it is only him at the moment (his accountant is on holiday until the end of August). I am currently on social assistance because for the last three years I have received a salary of 380 euros per month for the full time care of my mother, who now must go into a Maison de Retraite, so I have no capital.

My father in law has purchased the equipment and materials needed to start via his SASU, with the idea I pay him a rent when I start to make some money. I had wondered whether it is both possible and legal to set up two microbics, one in my partner’s name and one in mine. The first (service business) buys the materials and assembles, then sells to second at cost or loss (sales business) who sells to the client. Potential sales in excess of 1,000,000 euros per year, but in reality we would be looking at a turnover of 60,000 euros by the second year.

Advice needed.