Consultant / Freelance IT

[loulou71]

I'm an IT consultant looking to live and work full-time in (or based from) France, but I'm reluctant to register as a micro business. I would be grateful for any advice.

Thanks in advance

[Panda]

Hi LouLou

You haven't said why you are reluctant.  I work on a contract basis with UK based clients and am set up as a micro, this does restrict your earning potential (up to 27k euro max) and so you need to see if this will suit you, for me, as I currently work part time it's been fine.  As far as cotisations and tax go, I pay pretty much the same now as I did in the UK,tax here is much lower, NI equivalent much higher, but if you add it both together and see it as how much you pay out it's about the same for me.  If you search you will see that others have come to the same conclusions on a percentage of earnings basis. 

Explain about your reluctancy...

Panda

[Afy]

You should be able to work as a contractor. I know a few people doing this, who are most definetely not set up as micro's.

[Rapid]

I didn't want to register as a business either, as I prefer to pay social contributions as I earn the money and wanted a get out clause should work dry up and not to have to de-register...I'm also not fluent in French and was worried about the administration. I work through a portage which basically means I act as a freelancer but don't have to register as such, am classed as an employee rather than a business and don't have any business admin. Maybe it's more expensive than having a micro though as I'm an employee i pay the same huge contributions as anyone else with a work contract in France. To me it's worth it not have to worry about the paperwork, legal stuff or a big cpam bill arriving unexpectedly. I recently had a contract in UK and carried on paying into the French system as I worked on the contract through the Portage - if work dries up / contracts finish I am entitled to French 'dole' and percentage of what i earned in previous year. Email me if you would like a recommendation.     

[Ergotherpeut1]

Hi Loulou71

As with Panda I am not sure why the reluctance to set up as a micro-bic, perhaps because you will earn more than the limits, or not sure if it will be viable business (though if you are a decent IT consultant, I do not think that this will be a problem here in France). 

If you were to register as a job seeker with the ANPE, you could use their 'couveuse d'enterprise' to test out how well your business would work, and establish the best company setup for you.  The Couveuse initiative works in the same way as the portage/unbrella system but you will not have to pay the additional costs as you would to a private company. If at the end of the trial period (six months) you decide not to go ahead, you can just abandon the project. If after six months you do decide to go ahead, you will likely qualify for a number of   tax and cotisation breaks for the first two years of you start up.

Good luck and best wishes whatever you decide to do

John

[RumziGal]

[quote user="Ergotherpeut1"]

If you were to register as a job seeker with the ANPE, you could use their 'couveuse d'enterprise' to test out how well your business would work, and establish the best company setup for you.  [/quote]

How did you find out about this?  I've done all the ANPE stuff, not an iota of a glimmer of a suggestion of a possibility of going in this direction.

Did the bilan de competence, they said I could do a formation as a secretary and earn minimum wage. 

[lemans]

Hi Rapid,

I am currently working for clients at their homes to fix their computer problems, install broadband access and to provide tuition on various software. 

In the UK, I worked as a freelance web developer under a 10 month contract to one company. Here, I used an umbrella company which worked very effectively.  I would like to use the same process here if I could. Would I be able to use a Portage in order to pay my various cotistations (Retraite, Assurrance Maladie etc) despite the fact that these are lots of small jobs for varying clients?  If so, could you please recommend a Portage to me?

Many thanks,

lemans