Auto-entrepreneur pension in France: quarters and contributions

As an auto-entrepreneur (a self-employed person under France’s micro-business regime), your pension is built with every URSSAF (the body that collects social-security contributions) declaration: part of your contributions goes to your basic pension, which validates pension quarters (trimestres), and another part to your supplementary pension, which gives you points. Everything depends on your turnover: no turnover, no contributions, and no rights. Here you’ll find what your contributions fund, the turnover you need to reach in 2026 to validate one to four quarters, how the supplementary pension works, the situation of the collaborating spouse (conjoint collaborateur) and the ways to top it up.

The rules and figures are those in force in 2026, checked on entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr, urssaf.fr, autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr and impots.gouv.fr on 30 September 2026.

Who manages your pension

Most auto-entrepreneurs come under the Assurance retraite, the same fund as private-sector employees. It’s the body you deal with for the basic pension as well as for the self-employed supplementary pension, the RCI.

If you practise a regulated liberal profession affiliated to the CIPAV (the pension fund of certain liberal professions), it’s the CIPAV that manages your pension. Service-Public lists in particular architects, consulting engineers, ski instructors and mountain guides, osteopaths, psychologists and psychotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, chiropractors, psychomotor therapists, automotive or court-appointed experts, and tour guides. Affiliation happens automatically after you register.

Nurses, physiotherapists and other allied health professionals are a separate case: the URSSAF states that a medical practitioner or allied health professional can’t be an auto-entrepreneur, and their pension comes under a fund of its own, CARPIMKO (the pension fund of nurses and allied health professionals). Their situation is covered in the article on the self-employed nurse in a micro-entreprise.

What your contributions fund

According to Service-Public, your contribution rate is a flat package that covers all your social protection: health, daily sickness benefits, invalidity and death, basic pension, supplementary pension, family allowances and CSG-CRDS (social levies). Only part of it goes to your pension.

Since 1 January 2026, that part has grown. The URSSAF has revised the split of the overall rate to give more room to the contributions that earn rights, and less to CSG-CRDS:

For non-regulated liberal professions (BNC, non-commercial profits), the overall rate itself has risen in steps since July 2024, to 25.6% in 2026. The URSSAF presents this as a way of securing their supplementary pension rights. The rates for each activity are in the article on the URSSAF declaration.

How you validate quarters

The number of quarters you validate each year doesn’t depend on the time worked, but on what you’ve contributed to your basic pension. Service-Public sets out the calculation in four steps:

1. Your contributions for the year: your turnover multiplied by your rate (12.3%, 21.2% or 25.6%).
2. The basic pension share: that amount multiplied by the share allocated to the basic pension, that is 43.45% for BIC (industrial and commercial profits) and 46.40% for BNC in 2026.
3. The income contributed on: that share divided by the basic pension contribution rate, 17.87% in 2026.
4. The quarters: that income divided by 150 times the hourly SMIC (the minimum wage) on 1 January. In 2026, the hourly SMIC is €12.02, so one quarter corresponds to €1,803 of income contributed on.

The result is rounded down to the whole number, and you can’t validate more than four quarters a year. You also have to be up to date with paying your contributions.

The turnover to reach

Applying this calculation to the 2026 figures, here is the minimum annual turnover to validate each quarter, excluding the ACRE:

The CIPAV row is the one Service-Public and the URSSAF publish. The other three are calculated from the 2026 rates and parameters published by Service-Public: they give a reliable order of magnitude, and Service-Public reaches the same results in its examples. With €12,100 received in 2026, a sales business validates two quarters, a BIC services business three, a liberal profession four.

For the same turnover, a sales business validates far fewer quarters than a services business, because its contribution rate is lower. If your turnover is modest, check closely where you stand each year.

During the ACRE (start-up relief on contributions), your rate is reduced: so is the share that goes to your pension, and the same turnover may validate fewer quarters. The relief’s rules are in the article on the ACRE.

If you’re also an employee

Quarters don’t add up beyond four a year, across all schemes. If your salaried job already validates four for you, your auto-entrepreneur turnover doesn’t bring you any extra, but your contributions still count towards the amount of your pension. Combining the two statuses is explained in the article auto-entrepreneur, unemployment and employment.

If you’re already retired, the URSSAF states that your auto-entrepreneur contributions don’t increase the pension you receive. Since 1 January 2023, a business taken up again or continued can, under conditions, open new rights and a second pension.

How your basic pension is calculated

For an auto-entrepreneur affiliated to the Assurance retraite, the calculation is the same as for a private-sector employee:

• your pension is calculated on your best 25 years of income;
• it reaches 50% of your average annual income if you have all your quarters — this is called the full rate (taux plein);
• the average income used can’t exceed the social security ceiling, that is €48,060 in 2026;
• if you’re missing quarters, your pension is reduced.

The number of quarters you need for the full rate, and the age from which you can retire, depend on your year of birth. Your pension account on info-retraite.fr gives you your career statement (relevé de carrière) and your own situation.

For professions under the CIPAV, the basic pension works in points: in 2026, the value of a basic pension point is €0.6599.

The auto-entrepreneur’s supplementary pension

You also contribute to a mandatory supplementary pension, with nothing to do: it’s included in your rate.

• Craftspeople, traders and non-regulated liberal professions: this is the RCI, the self-employed supplementary scheme, managed by the Assurance retraite. In 2026, 19.75% of your contributions go to it for BIC and 21% for BNC. What you pay in is converted into points: for BIC activities, Service-Public states that a point costs €21.726 in 2026.
• Professions under the CIPAV: the CIPAV runs its own supplementary scheme. In 2026, 30.70% of your contributions go to it, and you get one point for every €47.40 contributed. Each point is worth €2.89 of annual pension in 2026.

An example taken from Service-Public: with €12,100 of turnover from sales of goods in 2026, you earn 13 supplementary pension points. With the same amount from BIC services, 23 points.

Your supplementary pension follows your basic pension: if you receive your basic pension at the full rate, you also receive your supplementary pension at the full rate.

The collaborating spouse and their pension

If your spouse, your PACS partner or your cohabiting partner works regularly with you without being paid, they can take the status of conjoint collaborateur. It’s this status that opens their own pension rights, basic and supplementary, as well as daily sickness benefits and maternity or paternity allowances.

• You declare them yourself, on the guichet unique (the one-stop business formalities portal, run by INPI), when you set up or later, with a sworn statement signed by your spouse.
• They contribute separately, under the same simplified rules as you. They choose how their contributions are calculated: either as a percentage of your turnover, or on a flat-rate base. Service-Public gives the details of each option by activity.
• The status is limited to five years, in total. Beyond that, they have to change status.

A spouse who helps you regularly without any declared status doesn’t contribute, and so earns no pension rights for this work. If that’s your case, sort it out now, not when it’s time to retire.

If your turnover is low: minimum contributions

Zero turnover costs nothing, but earns nothing for your pension either. If you expect very low turnover, you can ask to pay minimum contributions, to keep earning rights.

The price to pay: you leave the simplified calculation. Your contributions are then calculated on your business income, declared once a year, as for a standard self-employed person; they’re provisional and then adjusted. You apply to the URSSAF no later than 31 December for the following year, or before the end of the third month after setting up.

The ARCE and keeping the ARE, pension-wise

If you start out while receiving unemployment benefit, the two options don’t have the same effect. Keeping part of the ARE (unemployment benefit) gives you credited periods, which count towards validating quarters. The ARCE (unemployment benefit paid as capital), paid as a lump sum, doesn’t validate basic pension quarters. Both aids are presented in the article on the ACRE and start-up aids.

Topping up your pension

Beyond the mandatory supplementary pension, nothing is provided automatically: the URSSAF points out that an optional pension is taken out with a private provider. To save more, the usual solution is the individual PER (retirement savings plan), opened with a bank or an insurer. Payments are deductible from your overall income, according to impots.gouv.fr, up to a ceiling shown on your tax notice.

What doesn’t concern you: the Madelin contract

You’ll often come across the Madelin contract (deductible insurance and pension contracts) on pages about self-employed pensions. According to impots.gouv.fr, it hasn’t been sold since 1 October 2020, and its contributions are deducted from the business’s taxable profit. In the micro-entreprise (France’s micro-business regime), your profit isn’t calculated from your actual expenses but by a flat-rate allowance (abattement forfaitaire): this lever doesn’t apply to you. The individual PER replaced it, and existing Madelin savings can be transferred to it.

Habits to keep

• Declare every period, even at €0, and pay on time: unpaid contributions validate nothing.
• Look at your turnover for the year at the end of the year, with the table above in mind: a few hundred euros can make the difference of a quarter.
• Check your career statement regularly on info-retraite.fr, and report anything missing.
• Declare your spouse if they work with you.

Your pension is prepared a little with every declaration: knowing how it works is already building it better.
💜💙 Your BravoLisa Team

This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. Every situation is different — consult a qualified professional (tax adviser, accountant, or lawyer) for advice specific to your circumstances. BravoLisa does not accept liability for decisions made based on this information.

Last updated: September 2026. Rates and thresholds can change: always check with the URSSAF, impots.gouv or the relevant authority.

Sources (12)

Verified on 30 September 2026

1. Entreprendre Service Public — Régime de retraite du micro-entrepreneur
2. Autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr — Une importance accrue de la part des cotisations contributives à compter du 1er janvier 2026
3. Urssaf.fr — Évolution des taux de cotisations sociales des auto-entrepreneurs
4. Autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr — L'essentiel du statut
5. Urssaf.fr — Vous souhaitez devenir auto-entrepreneur (diaporama, avril 2026)
6. Entreprendre Service Public — Cotisations sociales d'un micro-entrepreneur : ce qu'il faut savoir
7. Entreprendre Service Public — Quel est le régime social du conjoint-collaborateur du micro-entrepreneur ?
8. Entreprendre Service Public — Conjoint du chef d'entreprise : quels sont les différents statuts ?
9. Entreprendre Service Public — Aide à la reprise ou à la création d'entreprise (Arce)
10. Urssaf.fr — Devenir praticien ou auxiliaire médical : tout savoir
11. impots.gouv.fr — Épargne retraite
12. impots.gouv.fr — Je cotise à un contrat Madelin. Quel est mon avantage fiscal ?