How to Freelance in France (everything I wish I’d know before I became self employed in France)
I started my business in France by accident...
February 2020, I was hanging out in the string netting off the jetty that led the way from the startling blue Indonesian sea, up onto the stony path that took me to my house. The warm wind whipped my hair across my face, and I took a big breath as I closed my book & opened my phone to news of a weird virus in China. "It won't be a big deal" I said to my boyfriend later that night over dinner, as clients from our diving day popped over to say hi, it'll be like swine flu - we'll all panic, but actually it won't impact most people's lives that much.
Ha! 3 weeks later, joke was definitely on me, as I made the long journey, masked all the way, from Seraya Kecil (a miniscule dot of an Island on the edge of Komodo National Park, via Japan and to my boyfriend's parents home near Paris.
And that's how I became a freelancer in France... I couldn't get a job - pandemic & the fact I couldn't speak French were pretty strong factors in that, so I made a job by starting my own business as a micro-entrepreneur (small entrepreneur, self employed or sole trader!)
Because I fell into starting a business in France by accident, I didn't have much chance to think it through, and probably that was a good thing, a bit of naivety definitely helped! But now, 3 years on I can look back at my experience of starting my business in France and share with you what I wish I'd known first, so that if you're thinking of doing the same thing, you're more prepared than I was!
So if you’re dreaming of freelancing in France & a move to the land of Baguettes and Champagne (I mean who isn’t?!) or perhaps the Caribbean side 🏝️ ?! This one’s for you!
PS… It goes without saying, I’m a webdesigner & not an employment lawyer, so none of the below is advice, just simply reflections & learnings I’ve gathered through my own experience of being self employed in France!
This post may contain affiliate links. These are denoted by a *. If you make a purchase via one of these links I may get a small kickback. I only recommend products and services I use and love myself! Thanks in advance :)
To be self employed or Freelance in france you need to have the status “Micro-entrepreneur AKA Auto entrepreneur”*
I had no clue about how to start a business in France, before I actually did!
The first thing to know is you can’t just rock up in France and start making money… first of all you will need a visa that gives you right to work. I’m not covering this in this article, but it’s really important that you sort that out before anything else!
Next you need a status. *There are actually a bunch of different business statuses, but the simplest & easiest in most cases is to become a “Micro-entrepreneur” which is an option for the majority (although not all) of self employed folks.
This status used to be called “Auto Entrepreneur” and is still referred to as such in quite a number of places (whether you seen micro enterprise or auto enterprise, they’re the same thing, and refer to the simplest status that allows you to work for yourself in France - it’s not actually a business structure, but a tax status that allows you to benefit from simpler tax & accounting rules).
It’s really important to emphasise that without being a Micro-entrepreneur or having another valid status you are not allowed to work on a self employed basis in France.
Here’s a list of the job types (metiers) that can be done as a microentrepreneur.
How to I set up a micro enterprise to freelance in France
Becoming a Micro-entrepreneur is easy (but there are a few things you need to get your head around)
To set up as an micro entrepreneur, you first need to know who your '“affiliation” body or Official Business Registration Centre is. For the vast majority of service based and online businesses this is URSSAF (as most of these business types are considered to be “Professional Liberale”, but for trades and artisans it’ll be your relevant “Chambre des Metiers” or “Chambre des Commerce et D’Industrie”.
Once you know who you need to register your micro-enterprise with, you follow the steps to apply for your micro-entrepreneur status (it’s essentially a pretty simple form & some identification documents - you will need to include proof of your right to work in France).
Once this is done, you will be prompted to select what tax regime you’d like (this is well worth researching & working through your specific situation to make sure you choose the best option for you) and once this is all done & you’re approved you will receive your SIREN & SIRET numbers (The Siren is the first 9 digits of the SIRET) & you’re all set! This is what gives you the right to start earning your first €€!
NB: There are some professions for which it is not possible to work under the micro-enterprise status, and some circumstances whereby the micro enterprise status won’t be the best choice for you, so do make sure you’ve researched this ahead of time as if your in this category you will need to look at other options for your business set up.
Tax as a self employed person in France
The main thing that you have to do on a regular basis for your micro enterprise is your taxes!
You can choose whether you’d like to declare your tax monthly or quarterly . I chose monthly online declarations and it takes me the grand total of about 10 minutes to do my tax return each month and (extra bonus) the amount is paid automatically from my nominated bank account which means I don’t have the end of year tax panic… but here comes one thing to bear in mind…
Micro entrepreneurs tax & social charges are calculated on your gross revenue, not net! I.e. You cannot write off business expenses!!! This is built into the taxation model, but none the less really important to know (I found out to my cost!!)
Finally, another top tip for your taxes is to make sure you download & keep the “attestations” - proof of declarations & payment. Even though these will live on your URSSAF account, I’ve heard stories of them disappearing, and without your attestations you have no proof you paid your taxes. A general rule of business in France is to back up & back up again so you always have a paper trail!
The tax regime & social charges for micro enterprises is different in the dOM-TOM (places like martinique, guadeloupe & Guyane
Because of the higher cost of living in the DOMTOM (this stands for Départements d'outre-mer, & Territoires d'outre-mer - French departments that are not in mainland france ) the tax & social charges are different, as are the limits for when you need to pay VAT.
Not everyone is aware of this (even in the tax office in the mainland) so make sure to do your research so you know what the situation is for your specific circumstances.
If you make more than €10,000 a year you need a separate business bank account for your micro enterprise
This is pretty much good sense anyway - having a separate business bank account allows you to keep business finances separate from personal finances & is super smart to help you budget & balance the books in both the business & personal sides of your life.
If you make more than 10,000€ though it’s mandatory to have a separate bank account for your micro enterprise. What isn’t mandatory though is for this to be a business bank account (even if your bank tries to persuade you this is the case!) - it just needs to be a dedicated account. I’ve found Wise (formerly transferwise) to be a pretty good option for this, and even though the IBAN for their Euros account is Belgian, it can still be accepted by URSSAF for your taxes!
You need to add EI to your invoices, contracts & bank account (& maybe more…)
The topic of EI was hot in 2022 as the French government brought in legislation that stated that to avoid your personal assets being at risk (like with limited liability companies) you needed to add EI to key things you use to run your business in France - this includes invoices, contracts, your bank account (another reason to recommend Wise as they made this so easy to update), and correspondance including your email footers & website).
The EI stands for Enterprise Individuelle which is a way to signal to your customers what your business status is, and that your personal assets are protected.
As a microentrepreneur you’re eligible for a Carte Vitale (health care!)
This is a great benefit of being a microenterprise - once you have the status you’re eligible for a Carte Vitale & access to health care! In France though health care is not 100% funded so you may wish to have a “mutuelle” (basically a top up insurance). I have ALAN* and love it SO MUCH - it’s ap based, super easy to use & has good coverage. I don’t know many people who have heard of it, and seriously they’re missing out - it’s been a game changer for me!
You have to be a lone wolf when you freelance in france…
Big flag next to this one! To be a micro entrepreneur you have to work alone… You can’t employ anyone and your can’t have colleagues. You can of course pay another micro-enterprise or business to do a service for you, but as I mentioned above, you cannot write off this cost in your tax return.
There are some exceptions (the conjoint collaborateur is an example - this is essentially a way to ensure that spouses that were supporting their partner’s business get retirement & health rights) but generally speaking as a rule, if you’re a micro enterprise you’re going it alone my friend!
Get your business organisation systems in order early
French law requires that you have a contract & invoice (with specific language included in them) for your clients (who pay over a certain amount) and you can be audited on this at any time, with this in mind, keeping a well organised bank of these is a really smart idea!
I use Dubsado* (get 20% off your first year with this link) which allows clients to sign their contracts online, pay easily via their invoice (as it’s connected to Stripe & my Wise bank account) and then allows me to download these in PDF form in case I need them at any point in the future (it also allows me to automate various other things saving me tonnes of time, but that’s for another post!)
I highly recommend getting this set up right away and dedicating some time either weekly or monthly to keep it updated. I also suggest keeping a back up just in case !
even if you’re self employed You need to adhere to GDPR data laws
Like all businesses based in the European Union, or working with people based in the European Union, you need to be sure to adhere to GDPR data laws in all aspects of your business. This goes for your website, email list, data management and more. Do make sure you get clear on this & run your business accordingly.
Everyone stops working for all of august… you might want to too!
It is entirely normal for business to stop for the whole of the month of August (and sometimes a week or so either side!) This can be a great opportunity to take holiday too, or buckle down to work “on your business” as opposed to “in it”, either way, knowing that it’s very unlikely that anyone else will be working is handy when doing your annual planning!
Co-working and working from home is less common in france than the uK
Although the pandemic has certainly shifted French working practices to lead to more home working, flexible working and co-working, this culture is much less prevalent than I’ve found it to be in the UK. With this in mind it’s really worth cultivating an online network of colleagues and business buddies to avoid feeling isolated (of course you may get lucky & have a super local network of other self employed pals - if this is the case, definitely make the most of it!)
The admin can feel overwhelming - know where to go to get help
Although the basic set up and tax returns are pretty simple, even two years in I’m still learning new things about being an micro-entrepreneur and just generally living in France! The biggest of these is that the paperwork and administration can feel overwhelming and confusing.
It’s really useful in this case to know where to go to for help - I’ve found facebook groups to be good for quick “is this what I think it is” questions, a reliable “handholder” can be good for more in depth or specific queries, and of course the French system itself - the staff in the tax offices have gone out of their way to find information for me at times (at other times less so… but it’s worth a try!)
Just remember once you’ve done it all once, it’ll be so much easier the second time around!
A great website is your best friend as a french freelancer
France is (and i say this in the kindest way) not known for fantastic websites & up to date automations. My experience to date has been in comparison with the UK for example (and to an even greater extent the US) that French websites tend to be relatively out of date, clunky & lack basic automation and functionality.
This is a great chance to stand out from the crowd, by creating a beautiful, functional website with fantastic customer experience (online booking functionality, easy to access FAQs, up to date information, online contracts etc) you give yourself a great competitive edge as well as doing right by your customers & making your own life easy!
Not sure where to start with your website? I created Libre especially for you - a free Squarespace template made for small service providers - find out more & grab the template
What jobs are a good fit for the micro enterprise set up in France?
If you’re thinking about becoming self employed in France you might already have a good idea of what you’d like to do for work. But if you don’t here are some jobs that in my opinion lend themselves really well to the micro enterprise status for “expats”, especially if you’d like to work flexibly or online.
Webdesign
Brand design
Digital marketing
Virtual assistant
Consultancy
Translator
Photographer
Yoga teacher
It’s also because for most of these jobs, the costs are relatively low, which means that the issue of not being able to write off your expenses against tax isn’t too much of a problem (although it’s worth saying if you have a product based business, you most likely fall into a different tax protocol whereby they build in a model of your expense costs into the calculation (put simply, you pay less tax only on a percentage of your earnings).
Make sure you have the right insurance for your business
This is the case wherever you set up and whatever it is you do, but having the right insurance coverage for your micro enterprise is really important to protect your 🍑 !
The most important thing about freelancing in france though?
Enjoy it! It’s been the most wonderful ride, I have the freedom to explore this incredible country, learn about the culture, immerse myself in experiences that I’d have never had otherwise, all whilst being my own boss!
I take time off when I want, work with the clients I want to, surf in the middle of the day when the waves are best & feel incredibly privileged to have the opportunity to be self employed in France!
Got questions? I’m happy to answer them (to the best of my ability - I’m definitely still a learner on the topic!) and love connecting with fellow French freelancers & small business owners. Pop yours in the comments, or send me an email (I get back to all of them personally & it brings me great joy to see readers from the blog pop up in my inbox)! 📥
related posts
New on the ‘Gram…
