You probably didn’t know about this, but the micro entrepreneur turnover thresholds are updated every 3 years. The last time was for 2023-2025. Which means that the new turnover limits for 2026 to 2028 have been published on URSSAF and Impôts websites. Great news, except that the implementation decree hasn’t been published yet.
In this article, I’m summarising the NEW 2026 micro entrepreneur thresholds, but please wait until I’ve confirmed that the decree has been passed. More at the end…
1 - New Micro Entrepreneur Turnover limits 2026-2028
- Buy to resell, ecommerce 203,100€ per calendar year.
- Commercial and manual services (BIC) 83,600€ e.g. conciergerie, communication agency, agent immobillier, chef, builder.
- Intellectual services (BNC) 83,600€ eg coach, consultant, web designer, programmer
- Classified gites with Atout France 83,600€ (non classified =15,000€)
2 - Micro Entrepreneur Turnover limits 2023-2025
Since the implementation decree hasn’t been voted, for now we are still referring to these numbers to avoid any bad surprises. Such as going over the current threshold by having referred to the new ones not voted yet.
- Buy to resell, ecommerce 188,700 €
- Commercial and manual services (BIC) 77,700€ eg conciergerie, agency, agent immobilier, chef
- Intellectual services (BNC) 77,700€ eg coach, consultant, web designer, programmer
- Classified gites with Atout France 77,700€ (non classified =15,000€)
3 - What do we mean by turnover - le chiffre d’affaires
It’s always best to clarify what turnover or chiffre d’affaires means. Especially when speaking with American citizens, as you tend to use the term "revenue" for sales. This word “revenue” often leads to confusion in French, as we use it to refer to income taken out of the business by the entrepreneur. Think “impôt sur le revenu” with revenu being your income.
Whenever speaking to an accountant, lawyer, bank manager or business advisor, don’t be scared of asking “do you mean sales or income taken out of the business”. It can make a huge difference as some tax regimes are based on sales (such as the micro entrepreneur) or on your profit (réel simplifé).
The Micro entrepreneur turnover actually refers to:
- We are talking about sales between 1st January to 31 December. And not based on when you registered your business.
- The sales you made and cashed in over the month or quarter
- If you sent an invoice for 800€ and your customer hasn’t paid you yet, ignore it.
- We are not looking at where your customer has paid you. For instance if they’ve paid you in a Wise, Stripe or foreign account, which you haven’t transferred to your French business account yet, it’s still paid. So you need you include it in your turnover declaration.
- If you receive a deposit “un accompte”, you also have to declare it.
- This is what we refer to as a pay-as-you earn system.
4 - Micro Entrepreneur Prorata Temporis rule
It sounds like I’m about to share a grammar school math problem or even worse a Latin lesson, but bare with me, it’s simple.
Here’s the basic rule: you are NOT allowed to go over the threshold for your first year in business. And rather than take the full year’s turnover we are going to take a prorata temporis rule, meaning checking exactly how many days you were in business that year and applying this prorata to the turnover.
This means that your turnover limit in year one is based on the exact number of days that you are in business. For instance, if you create your business on 1st July 2026 as a consultant , your maximum prorata temporis turnover for 2026 is 39,064€ and not 83,600€!
Why is it important to know about this prorata rule?
If you go over the prorata limit in year one, you will have to move out of the Micro Entrepreneur on 1st January the following year. No second chance or “I didn’t know about it”, because URSSAF won’t care. It’s up to you to track this number.
5 - What happens when you go over the Micro Entrepreneur limit
I always find it useful to remind readers of what happens when you do go over the authorised threshold. And no, your business isn’t shut down or risk your business visa being cancelled (Scary, I know).
Very important note before I explain what happens: you are NOT allowed to go over the threshold for your first year in business. There’s even a pro-rata rule, which means that your turnover limit in year one is based on the exact number of days that you are in business. For instance, if you create your business on 1st July 2026 as a consultant, your maximum prorata temporis turnover for 2026 is 39,064€ and not 83,600€!
Here’s what really happens when a micro entrepreneur goes over the limit:
You can go over the authorised turnover threshold for 2 consecutive years, before having to switch to a different regime or business type.
- For instance, a coach registered on 1st Jan 2025 makes 77,500€ in 2025, then 90,000€ in 2026 and 95,000€ in 2027. The micro entrepreneur will only need to move to a different business type or regime in 2028. Pretty cool for someone who wants to keep an easy to manage business.
- Same example, but this time 2027 isn’t so good and the turnover is 80,000€. This person can remain as a micro entrepreneur. My advice: don’t play with this by being one year above, one year below again and again. The tax office might want to come and check what you are doing.
Once you are over the limit for 2 consecutive years (or before if you want to), you can then decide whether you will:
- Switch to the next regime up “régime réel simplifié” still as a sole trader entreprise individuelle. In this case you keep your SIRET and TVA number and only change the way you pay your social charges from 1st January the following year. It will be based on profit and not your sales. Your social charges will represent 46% of your profit. Or
- Close your micro entrepreneur down to create an incorporated business such as an EURL/SARL or SASU/SAS. Both incorporated businesses will be under the régime réel simplifié, but SASU/SASU has a mixture or salary and dividends. Don’t assume that salary and dividends are best, because this is a French salary with high employee (20%) and employer’s social charges (42%) on top of your net salary.
And here’s a big clue for business visa holders with a SAS/SASU: you want to ensure you do pay yourself a salary to renew your visa! Some people try to be tax savvy by not paying a salary or making a loss. And what the prefecture actually sees is a business that isn’t profitable on paper and cannot generate a salary, hence rejecting the visa renewal.
6 - My Final advice on the Micro Entrepreneur
The micro entrepreneur is a great scheme for anyone on a business visa wanting to validate and renew their titre de séjour easily. It ticks all the boxes by helping you get in th eFrench system and providing regular proof of paying taxes and making a regular income. This is all we are looking for in a business visa renewal!
I find it easier to remain with the micro entrepreneur until you have validated a multi year visa, then switch to a more complex business type or regime. Going too soon into an EURL/SARL or SAS/SASU without understanding the taxes can get you in a muddle, hence jeopardising your visa renewal. And nobody wants to do this after having done so much work to get a business visa in the first place and learning to manage the French business admin for 1 year.
