Creating a micro-entreprise in France: becoming an auto-entrepreneur

Creating a micro-entreprise (France’s micro-business regime) is done online, on the guichet unique (the one-stop business formalities portal, run by INPI), and it’s free in almost every case. No articles of association to draft, no capital to deposit, no legal notice to publish: you declare your activity, attach a few documents, and receive your SIREN (the nine-digit business number). Here’s how to become an auto-entrepreneur (a self-employed person under France’s micro-business regime) step by step, what it costs, how long it takes, and what doesn’t concern you, such as the Kbis in most cases.

The rules are those in force in 2026, checked on Entreprendre Service Public and on the guichet unique’s website on 30 September 2026.

Auto-entrepreneur, micro-entrepreneur, micro-entreprise: what are we talking about?

According to Service-Public, the three words mean the same thing. Micro-entrepreneur is the official name; auto-entrepreneur is the old name, which everyone still uses. The micro-entreprise is the business itself.

Legally, it isn’t a form of company. It’s a sole proprietorship (entreprise individuelle, EI) that benefits from a simplified tax and social-security regime: you work in your own name, you pay your social-security contributions as a percentage of what you receive, and you don’t have a balance sheet to produce. A person can have only one sole proprietorship; if you have two activities, they go into the same micro-entreprise.

If you’re still hesitating between the micro-entreprise and a company, first read micro-entreprise, sole proprietorship or SASU.

What you need before you start

Service-Public states that the guichet unique asks four things of anyone who carries out a formality:

• to be at least 18 (between 16 and 18, a non-emancipated minor can carry on a craft activity or a liberal profession with parental authorisation, but can’t buy to resell);
• a valid identity document;
• a proof of address;
• your social security number.

You also need a few decisions made in advance, because the form will ask you for them:

• The nature of your activity: commercial (buying and reselling goods, accommodation), craft (production, processing, repair) or liberal profession (consulting, training, intellectual services). It decides your register, your contribution rates and your ceiling. If you don’t know where you stand, BIC or BNC helps you decide.
• If your activity is regulated (hairdressing, construction, estate agent, catering…), you must have the diploma, the qualification or the authorisation before you register, and attach a copy of it.
• Your business’s address, which we look at below.
• The versement libératoire or not. The guichet unique offers you this tax option at creation; to know whether you’re entitled to it, keep your tax notice from two years ago to hand (your reference tax income, revenu fiscal de référence). The versement libératoire (paying income tax as a percentage of turnover, with the contributions) is explained in full in the versement libératoire.

If you can choose the date your activity starts, take the start of a calendar quarter (January, April, July or October). The ACRE (start-up relief on contributions) runs until the end of the third calendar quarter after your activity starts: starting on 1 July gives you twelve months of it, starting on 3 September only ten.

Where to register your micro-entreprise’s address

Service-Public explains that a business address (domiciliation) is mandatory: it’s your business’s administrative address, the one that will appear on your invoices, your quotes and your declarations. You must have chosen it before registration. For a sole proprietorship, it’s called a business address, not a registered office (the registered office is for companies).

You have several options:

• At home. It’s the most common choice, and it isn’t limited in time. You must be the owner or tenant, it must be your main residence, and neither your lease, nor the co-ownership rules, nor the planning rules may forbid it.
• With a business address provider, a coworking space or a business incubator. You’ll then need the provider’s SIREN and name at the time of the formality.
• In business premises that you rent.

If you register your business at your home address, that address is published in the registers, in particular the national business register (RNE), and becomes visible to everyone. You can ask INSEE (the national statistics institute) not to make your personal address public.

Registering your business at home doesn’t mean working there. If you really do work there, alone, without receiving clients or goods, it’s possible without authorisation in a town of fewer than 200,000 inhabitants. In Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis or Val-de-Marne, or in a municipality of more than 200,000 inhabitants, you need an authorisation for change of use. In every case, you must report this change of use to the tax office within three months of your activity starting.

Creating your micro-entreprise on the guichet unique, step by step

Since 1 January 2023, all creation formalities must go through the guichet des formalités des entreprises (formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr), run by INPI (the national industrial property office). It’s what’s called the guichet unique; it replaced the old business formalities centres. You can make your application at the earliest one month before your activity starts, and at the latest fifteen days after.

1. Create your account. On the guichet unique, under « Déclarer » (Declare), you create a username and a password, or you log in with FranceConnect (your impots.gouv.fr or ameli.fr credentials, for example). Check your contact details: that’s where the guichet unique will reply to you.
2. Choose « Créer une entreprise » (Create a business). The first screen sets the frame of your file: sole proprietorship, micro-entreprise regime, nature of the activity. Read it carefully, as these answers can’t be changed afterwards.
3. Fill in the sections. The form adapts to your case: your identity, the business’s address, the description of the activity, the start date, your tax options, including the versement libératoire. You can save at any time and pick up later.
4. Attach the supporting documents, listed in the next section.
5. Check the summary. The guichet unique shows you a recap and the breakdown of any fees. For a micro-entreprise, it’s zero, except for a commercial agent.
6. Sign. At creation, according to the guichet unique, a simple electronic signature is enough: one click on the button provided. Your file then goes for validation and can no longer be changed.

INPI also offers a free mobile app to guide you, and the chambers of commerce and industry (CCI) and chambers of trades and crafts (CMA) help for free, depending on your activity.

The documents to provide

For a micro-entreprise, the list is short:

• a copy of your identity document;
• a proof of the business address, with a clearly identifiable address (a water, electricity or gas bill, for example);
• a sworn statement of no criminal conviction and a statement of parentage, dated and signed;
• for a regulated activity, a copy of the diploma, the title or the authorisation.

Depending on your situation, other documents are added: the certificate that your spouse has been informed if you’re married under the community property regime, the choice of status of a spouse who works with you, a CAPE (a business support contract) if you’ve signed one, or the signed power of attorney if someone carries out the procedure on your behalf.

How much does creating a micro-entreprise cost?

Nothing, in the vast majority of cases. The guichet unique’s fee schedule states that using the guichet unique is free, and registration fees are abolished for micro-entrepreneurs.

For comparison, according to Service-Public, a standard sole proprietorship (outside the micro) pays €21.74 for a commercial activity and €45 for a craft activity.

Private websites offer to « créer ta micro-entreprise » (create your micro-entreprise) for a fee. They’re formalities services, not the official guichet unique: the procedure itself is free on formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, and you can do it yourself in one go.

What costs money afterwards isn’t the creation but the activity: your contributions, as a percentage of your turnover, and later the CFE (the local business property tax).

How long it takes, and what you receive

As soon as your file is submitted, the guichet unique sends you a récépissé de dépôt de dossier de création d’entreprise (RDDCE) (receipt for the submission of a business creation file), with the mention « En attente d’immatriculation » (Awaiting registration). This receipt already lets you carry out your formalities with public and private bodies, for example taking out professional insurance. It’s valid until your registration is confirmed, and for one month at most.

If your file is incomplete, the guichet unique tells you so in a receipt that lists what’s missing; you then have fifteen working days to complete it.

Once registration is done, you receive a justificatif d’immatriculation au RNE (proof of registration in the RNE) that carries your identification numbers: your SIREN and your APE code (the activity code), which corresponds to your main activity.

SIREN and SIRET

According to Service-Public, you don’t have to do anything to get them: they’re assigned automatically as soon as your registration is accepted, and you can see them in your area on the guichet unique.

• The SIREN (9 digits) identifies your business. For a sole proprietor, it’s assigned for life; it disappears only when the business closes (cessation d’activité).
• The SIRET (14 digits: the SIREN plus 5 digits) identifies your establishment, that is, the address where you carry on your activity. It changes if you move your business.

Your SIRET must appear on your invoices. Since 1 January 2023, INSEE no longer issues a registration certificate: everything is on the guichet unique, and anyone can look up your SIREN on the Annuaire des entreprises (the business directory).

The Kbis: what doesn’t apply to you

“Kbis auto-entrepreneur” is one of the most frequent searches, and the answer surprises people: most auto-entrepreneurs don’t have a Kbis, and don’t need one.

• Service-Public points out that the Kbis (a company’s register extract) proves that a company is registered in the trade and companies register. A micro-entreprise isn’t a company.
• If your activity is commercial, your micro-entreprise is entered in the RCS as well as the RNE. Your document is then called an extrait K (the K without “bis”, the one for sole proprietorships). You get it online, for free.
• If your activity is craft or a liberal profession, you’re entered only in the RNE: you have neither a Kbis nor an extrait K.

In every case, what counts as proof is the justificatif d’immatriculation au RNE (or RNE extract), which the administration treats as the equivalent of an extrait K or a Kbis. You can download it for free on the Annuaire des entreprises. For many administrative procedures, your SIREN number is in fact enough.

A bank, a supplier or a client asks you for a Kbis? Send your justificatif d’immatriculation au RNE, or your extrait K if your activity is commercial. It’s the document that proves your business exists.

Creating a micro-entreprise as a foreigner

Service-Public says that it all depends on your nationality.

• National of the European Union, the European Economic Area or Switzerland: you create your micro-entreprise under the same conditions as a French national, without a residence permit. A residence card « Citoyen UE/EEE/Suisse - Toutes activités professionnelles » (EU/EEA/Swiss citizen - All professional activities) can make some procedures easier, but it’s never mandatory.
• National of another country: working as a sole proprietor, and so under the micro-entreprise, requires you to live in France and to have a residence permit that allows self-employed activity. That’s the case of the « entrepreneur/profession libérale » (entrepreneur/liberal profession) residence card, the « porteur de projet » (project holder) talent passport, the « recherche d’emploi ou création d’entreprise » (job search or business creation) card after a French diploma, or the EU long-term resident card.

An « étudiant » (student) residence permit doesn’t let you create a micro-entreprise alongside your studies: creating a business requires a permit that allows a professional activity. Check your permit before you start the procedure.

When you close, the guichet unique will in fact ask you for this same residence permit as an identity document.

After registration: the first steps

Your micro-entreprise exists. A few steps follow, in this order:

• Apply for the ACRE if you’re entitled to it. It isn’t automatic: according to Service-Public, the application goes to the URSSAF (the body that collects social-security contributions) within 60 days of your activity starting. For an activity that starts on or after 1 July 2026, it reduces your contributions by 25%. Conditions and procedure in the ACRE.
• Declare your turnover every month or every quarter on autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr, even when it’s zero. Service-Public states that your contributions are a percentage of what you’ve received: 12.3% for sales of goods, 21.2% for commercial or craft services, 25.6% for non-regulated liberal professions in 2026. The details are in the URSSAF declaration.
• Keep your receipts book (livre des recettes), and a purchases register if you sell goods. See the auto-entrepreneur’s books.
• Take care over your invoices, with the right VAT mention: by default, you’re under the franchise en base de TVA (the VAT exemption for small businesses). See the auto-entrepreneur’s invoice and VAT for the auto-entrepreneur.
• Think about the CFE. Service-Public explains that you’re exempt from it in the year you create your business and your base is halved the following year; to benefit, you file the initial declaration, form 1447-C-SD (the initial CFE declaration), with your SIE (the business tax office). See the auto-entrepreneur’s CFE.
• Insure your activity and let La Poste know about your new business.

Carrying on a commercial or craft activity or a liberal profession without being registered in the RNE is an offence punishable by a €7,500 fine. Deliberately giving inaccurate information at registration exposes you to a €4,500 fine and six months’ imprisonment.

Finally, you keep an eye on your turnover: the micro-entreprise regime ends above €203,100 for trade and €83,600 for services in 2026, if they’re exceeded two years in a row. It’s all in the auto-entrepreneur’s ceilings.

Creating your micro-entreprise takes you an evening and costs you nothing: save your energy for your first clients.
💜💙 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 (16)

Verified on 30 September 2026

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2. Entreprendre Service Public — Création d'entreprise : formalités d'immatriculation d'une micro-entreprise (auto-entrepreneur)
3. Entreprendre Service Public — Quel est le coût des formalités de création d'une entreprise individuelle (EI) ?
4. Entreprendre Service Public — Création, modification ou cessation d'activité : à qui faut-il s'adresser ?
5. Entreprendre Service Public — Comment obtenir un numéro Siren ou un Siret ?
6. Entreprendre Service Public — Comment obtenir un extrait K ou Kbis ?
7. Entreprendre Service Public — Domicilier son entreprise individuelle et son activité
8. Entreprendre Service Public — Un étranger peut-il créer une entreprise en France ?
9. Entreprendre Service Public — Comment cumuler les statuts d'étudiant et de micro-entrepreneur ?
10. Entreprendre Service Public — Régime micro-social
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14. Guichet des formalités des entreprises (INPI) — Saisir
15. Guichet des formalités des entreprises (INPI) — Signer
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