The choice of legal structure comes up with the very first contracts and keeps affecting profitability for years afterward. For a freelance web developer working under French law, two options dominate the market: the micro-entreprise (sole trader) regime, valued for its simplicity, and the EURL (single-member limited company), which can absorb a more profitable activity. The 2026 thresholds and rates reshuffle part of the usual trade-offs.
Micro-entreprise: simplicity comes with a ceiling
For a services activity under the BNC regime — the category that applies to freelance web development in France — the revenue ceiling has been raised to €83,600 for 2026, 2027 and 2028 income, up from €77,700 previously. This ceiling should not be confused with the VAT exemption threshold, which stays at €37,500 (base threshold) and €41,250 (extended threshold): a freelancer can therefore remain under the micro-entreprise regime while already charging VAT once turnover crosses the first threshold.
Since January 1, 2026, the overall social contribution rate applying to BNC micro-entrepreneurs affiliated with the SSI (the general independent workers’ scheme) has risen from 24.6% to 25.6% of cash-collected revenue. Professions under the Cipav scheme, unaffected by this increase, remain at 23.2%. The social contribution base is calculated on gross cash receipts, with no deduction for actual expenses — a real drawback for profiles with high fixed costs (equipment, subcontracting, professional SaaS subscriptions).
EURL: a heavier setup, a higher ceiling
The EURL works differently: the sole managing shareholder, under self-employed (TNS) status, pays contributions on their net remuneration rather than on turnover. Social contributions typically run between 40% and 45% of that remuneration, with a 26% allowance applied to the base before the 2026 scales kick in. A minimum contribution, around €1,200 a year, is still due even without any remuneration, to preserve health and pension cover.
Under the corporate tax election, profit not paid out to the manager is taxed at 15% up to €42,500 of profit, then 25% above that — a proposal to raise this ceiling to €100,000 appears in the 2026 finance bill but remains, as of now, an unadopted amendment. This mechanism smooths out the tax burden in a high-activity year by keeping part of the result inside the company rather than paying it all out as remuneration.
| Criterion | Micro-entreprise (BNC) | EURL |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover ceiling | €83,600 (2026-2028) | None |
| Social contribution base | Cash-collected turnover | Manager’s net remuneration |
| Contribution rate | 25.6% (23.2% Cipav) | ~40-45% of remuneration |
| Deduction of actual expenses | No (flat-rate allowance) | Yes |
| Tax on undistributed profit | Not applicable | 15% up to €42,500, then 25% |
| Liability | Personal assets protected by default | Limited to contributions |
| Bookkeeping | Revenue ledger, no balance sheet | Accrual accounting, annual balance sheet |
The switching threshold, in practice
Switching to an EURL becomes worthwhile once two conditions line up: turnover approaching or exceeding the micro ceiling, and actual expenses high enough that deducting them offsets the extra administrative load. Below roughly €50,000 to €60,000 in annual turnover with few expenses, the micro-entreprise regime generally remains more profitable once contributions are compared line by line. Beyond that point — and especially once there is a wish to build up business cash reserves rather than pay everything out as personal income — the EURL under corporate tax regains the advantage.
Moving to a company structure is not justified by turnover alone: it is the gap between actual expenses and the flat-rate allowance that tips the calculation.
A worked example on €70,000 of turnover
For a developer billing €70,000 a year in turnover with €6,000 in actual expenses (equipment, subscriptions, occasional subcontracting), the two regimes produce noticeably different outcomes once contributions are applied.
Under the micro-entreprise BNC regime, social contributions come to 25.6% of cash-collected turnover, roughly €17,920, with no way to deduct the €6,000 in expenses from that base. Taxable income, after the 34% flat-rate allowance specific to the micro-BNC regime, then sits around €46,200, before the personal income tax scale applies.
Under an EURL taxed at the corporate rate, the €6,000 in expenses reduce the result before anything else. On the remaining balance, the manager’s remuneration can be set to arbitrate between the share subject to TNS contributions (roughly 40-45% of that remuneration, after the 26% allowance on the base) and the share left as company profit, taxed at 15% up to €42,500. This remuneration-versus-retained-profit arbitrage simply does not exist under the micro-entreprise regime, where the entire income follows the same social treatment.
The final net gap depends heavily on remuneration choices and actual personal cash needs during the year; it cannot be reduced to a simple rate differential, which is why an individual simulation is worth running before any change of status, rather than applying a general rule as-is.
Switching status mid-year is never neutral: closing the accounting period, any VAT to regularise, and the portability of ongoing contracts — including the service agreement signed with the client — need to be planned several months ahead of crossing the threshold, not after.
Social protection: the often-overlooked angle
Choosing a status is not just about immediate tax optimisation. Under both micro-entreprise and EURL, the manager falls under the general social security scheme for independent workers for health cover, but daily allowances and pension rights are calculated on different bases: cash-collected turnover on one side, actual net remuneration paid out on the other. An EURL where the manager deliberately draws a low remuneration to favour the company’s cash position builds, by construction, weaker pension rights than a micro-entreprise with equivalent turnover. This factor matters little in the first year, but compounds over the length of a freelance career.
Invoicing and shared obligations across both statuses
Whichever status is chosen, the e-invoicing mandate now applies to business-to-business transactions, with a phased rollout depending on the client company’s size. A properly configured invoicing tool, whether a dedicated solution or an ERP as covered in the Odoo setup guide for freelancers, absorbs this obligation without adding recurring administrative overhead, under either status.
Key takeaways
The micro-entreprise regime remains the fastest and administratively cheapest entry point for starting a freelance development activity, but its flat-rate base penalises profiles with high actual expenses. The EURL, heavier to manage, becomes advantageous once turnover and deductible expenses cross a threshold that has to be worked out case by case, expense line by expense line, rather than assumed from rising turnover alone.
I switched to a corporate-tax structure after two years under the micro regime, at the point where the gap between flat-rate contributions and actual expenses (equipment, occasional subcontracting, subscriptions) became too costly to ignore. The real gain was not immediately fiscal: it was the ability to smooth out cash flow through the slow months that changed things — Simon Janvier.
Further reading: full detail on the 2026 thresholds and rates on LégiFiscal (French).
