You might have heard the bad news that ACRE, the social charges exoneration given to new entrepreneurs had changed in 2020. It will indeed be harder to get and the exoneration will not be so interesting.
Social charges exoneration ACRE in 2019
- Given automatically to all new businesses,
- No specific criteria,
- Social charges rates reduced by 75% in the first year,
- Potentially renewal for 3 years under specific conditions.
Conditions to benefit from ACRE in 2020
New entrepreneurs complying with the following criteria will be able to request the ACRE exoneration:
- People listed with the unemployment agency Pôle Emploi and receiving benefits (indemnities called ARE, ASS, ASP or RSA).
- Job seekers without benefit listed with Pole Emploi for at least 6 months over the last 18 months.
- People aged 18 to 25 years old.
- People under the age of 30 with disabilities.
- Employees or people made redundant from a company under a procedure of safeguard, reorganisation or liquidation and planning to buy part of this business - procédures de sauvegarde, de redressement ou de liquidation judiciaires.
- People who have signed a business project support contract called CAPE - Contrat d'Appui au Projet d’Entreprise.
- People creating or taking over a business located in a priority area called Zone Urbaine Sensible ZUS (quartier prioritaire de la politique de la ville).
- Beneficiaries of the free choice of activity supplement - libre choix d'activité.
The most common situation for expats in France will be If you are working as an employee in France and planning to end your work contract by mutual agreement - rupture conventionnelle or if you have been made redundant.
Social charges exoneration ACRE in 2020
- Exoneration limited to one year.
- Paper form to be filled in and returned to URSSAF within 45 days of your business registration.
- Social charges rate for trade/gite 6.4% (instead of 12.8%) - Vente de marchandises.
- Social charges rate for manual services 11% (instead of 22%) - Prestations de services artisanales et commerciales.
- Social charges rate for manual services 11% (instead of 22%) - Activités libérales.
What happens to you if you registered your business in 2019?
If you registered your business in 2019 and benefited from ACRE, the exoneration will still work for you for 3 years. The social charges rate will be reviewed for your 2nd and 3rd year in business:
- Your exoneration will be reduced from 50 % to 25 % for your 2nd year in business.
- Your exoneration will be reduced from 25 % to 10 % for your 3rd year in business.
Get a copy of the ACRE 2020 form
This form can be downloaded from URSSAF's website. For now, it still looks like the 2019 version. Download your ACRE form.