CCI say I’m paying too much social security?

Hi Valerie

Yes, it’s me…...again. The chambre d’hôtes owner/advertising sales rep/English teacher!!

This questions starts because I took a friend to our local CCI to get her set up as an auto-entrepreneur for a gîte she is about to open. It all went well.

However, the lady who did the online submission for us was talking about social security and tax payments and it was getting very complicated with my friend’s complete lack of French and my bumbling attempts to understand and be understood. So I pulled up my last trimestrelle declaration on net-enterprises to show her and say “she will submit her declarations like me and pay this social security and tax rate”.
She immediately said that I was paying far too much.

Now, I have had this conversation with you before because you had another member who was paying 12.8% (it was a couple of years ago) on the line numbered 631 - VENTES DE MARCHANDISES as a chambre d’hôtes owner and I queried it with you because I pay 23.7% under the line 646 - PRESTATIONS DE SERVICES COMMERCIALES OU ARTISANALES. This makes a substantial difference to me.
You made some checks and confirmed that it varies in different parts of France as to what they accept and I should indeed be paying the higher amount.

But this lady in our own chamber of commerce was insistent that I should be paying the lower amount. Her reasons seemed to be that we were selling breakfast as part of the deal and should therefore declare as sale of merchandise. It is not just a service.
If this was the case, it would make a huge difference and presumably lead to a rebate (I am holding my breath as I write this).

But you already checked when I asked before.
But could you check again, just so I am 100% sure, just as this doubt has now been put in my mind again?

And just so I am very clear, we should be declaring everything we actually turnover, correct? There is definitely not any % allowance for an autoentrepreneur.

I have discovered that the person we used to set up our businesses (because we did not know about you back then!) has gone out of businesses and has left behind quite a lots of mistakes with people under wrong codes and even in wrong systems. Therefore I really do want to be 100% sure about what we are doing.
Let me know if you require all my business details again.

Many thanks
Louise