Selling goods through a French micro-enterprise
Resellers pay contributions on everything they take in, including what the stock cost them.
Figures checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Your activity in figures
Monthly take-home, single
€3,503
| Contribution rate | 12.3 % |
| Training + chamber levy a month | €5 |
| Income tax a month | €0 |
| Annual ceiling for this activity | €203,100 |
If you sell goods in France as a micro-entrepreneur, the simplified self-employed scheme often called auto-entrepreneur, you pay social contributions of 12.3 % on sales received in 2026, the lowest rate in the scheme. The same category covers selling what you make and supplying accommodation. Two small levies come on top, collected by the Urssaf (the social contributions agency): 0.1 % for vocational training and 0.015 % for the chamber of commerce (CCI). You can sell up to €203,100 a year, you charge no VAT up to €85,000, and for income tax the State assumes 71 % of sales are costs. The trap is stock: what you paid for the goods is part of your turnover and is never deducted. An online shop selling €60,000 after buying €36,000 of stock pays €7,449 of social levies, 31 % of its margin, and keeps €16,551 for the year.
What counts as selling goods
In French tax terms this is the first BIC category (bénéfices industriels et commerciaux, commercial profits): reselling products you bought, selling what you make, and supplying accommodation. Furnished holiday lets and bed-and-breakfast rooms follow their own ceilings (€83,600 for classified lets and B&Bs, €15,000 for unclassified lets) and are not covered here. Anything where you sell time or skill, such as repairs, fitting or advice, is a service, with a different rate and ceiling.
What a seller pays in 2026
A trader’s Urssaf return has three lines (Urssaf, key facts, service-public, chamber levies): contributions at 12.3 %, the training levy (CFP) at 0.1 % and the CCI levy at 0.015 %. The table shows the result for a single person with no other income, before stock purchases and before CFE local business tax.
| Sales received | Contributions, CFP and CCI levy | Income tax (scale) | Kept before stock | VAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €30,000 | €3,725 | €0 | €26,276 | exempt |
| €60,000 | €7,449 | €0 | €52,551 | exempt |
| €120,000 | €14,898 | €3,544 | €101,558 | VAT due |
| €200,000 | €24,830 | €10,504 | €164,666 | VAT due |
Watch the last column. Above €85,000 you must add VAT to your prices; if competitors are VAT-exempt, that eats into your margin.
A low rate on turnover, a heavier one on margin
A reseller does not earn what comes in. Picture an online shop that sells €60,000 of goods it bought for €36,000: gross margin €24,000. It pays €7,449 of social levies, calculated on the full €60,000. Measured against the margin, that is 31.0 %, far from the headline 12.3 %. After stock it keeps €16,551, before packaging, postage and marketplace fees.
The opposite holds for a maker selling their own work with cheap raw materials: the margin is wide and the low rate is very gentle. For thin-margin resellers, compare with the real-profit regime, where contributions follow profit: see micro or real profit.
The 71 % allowance and income tax
For income tax the State assumes 71 % of a seller’s turnover goes on costs (sheet F23267). On €60,000 of sales only €17,400 is taxable; for a single person with no other income, the décote (the low-tax discount) then wipes out the tax. The versement libératoire, a flat 1 % of sales paid with contributions (impots.gouv.fr), only pays off higher up: at €120,000 it costs €1,200 against €3,544 on the scale. See the flat-rate option.
Ceiling and first year
The scheme allows up to €203,100 of sales in 2026, previously €188,700 (service-public sheet F32353). In your first year the ceiling is pro-rated to days of trading: opening on 31 January 2026 gives €186,407. For VAT it works the other way round: first-year sales are scaled up to a full year (sheet F21746).
If you also sell services such as installation or repairs, total turnover stays under €203,100 and the service part under €83,600; the two do not add up, and the minimum allowance becomes €610. Details on the turnover ceiling.
Makers on the trades register
A craftsperson who sells their own production pays the same 12.3 %, but a training levy of 0.3 % and a trades-chamber (CMA) levy of 0.22 %. On €50,000 of sales: €6,150 of contributions plus €260 of levies. More on craft trades.
Mistakes new sellers make
Declaring margin instead of sales: the Urssaf wants turnover received, not what is left after buying stock. Declaring orders rather than payments: only money actually received in the period counts. Ignoring VAT until too late: passing the upper limit mid-year makes VAT due from that day, on sales already priced without it. See the VAT threshold.
The local business tax arrives in year two
Even a shop run from a spare room owes the CFE (cotisation foncière des entreprises), a local tax set by each commune. Nothing is due in the calendar year you open, the base is halved the year after, and you are exempt whenever sales two years earlier were €5,000 or less. With no business premises, the commune taxes a minimum base that depends on your turnover band. Our CFE calculator reads the rate voted where you live.
These figures are estimates based on 2026 rates, not personal advice; the Urssaf and the tax office decide what you owe.