French contractors typically invoice as micro-entrepreneurs, and France has a labour code that judges an engagement on how the work is done rather than on the contract’s label. Engagements run cleanly when the contractor is genuinely independent: they invoice you without French TVA, pay their own contributions to URSSAF, and you withhold nothing. The risk sits in the relationship. A contractor who takes orders like an employee can be requalified, and the client then faces a travail dissimulé (concealed employment) case.
Micro-entrepreneur, EI, EURL or SASU
| Form | Who uses it | Contributions and tax |
|---|---|---|
| Micro-entrepreneur (auto-entrepreneur) | Solo contractors under the turnover ceiling; an individual entrepreneur (EI) on the micro regime | A flat percentage of turnover to URSSAF; income tax by instalments or the versement libératoire |
| EI on the real regime | Contractors above the micro ceiling, or who opt out | Taxed on actual profit under a real regime rather than on turnover |
| EURL (single-member limited company) | Contractors who want a company | Manager is self-employed (TNS); profit taxed under income tax by default |
| SASU (single-member simplified company) | Contractors who want employee-like social cover | President is an assimilé salarié on the general scheme; profit subject to corporate tax |
The micro regime is capped at €83,600 of services turnover and €203,100 of sales for 2026–2028; a contractor who exceeds the cap two years running moves to a real tax regime from the next 1 January (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29). EURL and SASU details come from Bpifrance Création (checked 2026-09-29). An invoice from an individual entrepreneur shows “EI” beside the name and a SIREN number (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29).
URSSAF contributions and the contractor’s tax
A micro-entrepreneur declares turnover to URSSAF monthly or quarterly and pays a flat rate on it. In 2026 the rates are 25.6% for liberal (BNC) activities under the general scheme, 23.2% for Cipav-affiliated regulated professions, 21.2% for commercial and craft services and 12.3% for sales of goods (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29).
Income tax is collected by instalments the tax office debits from the contractor’s own account, unless they opted for the versement libératoire, which adds income tax to the URSSAF payment: 27.8% in total for BNC work (impots.gouv.fr; service-public.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29).
TVA. Under the franchise en base, a contractor charges no TVA up to €37,500 of services turnover, or €41,250 in the current year. The single €25,000 threshold planned for 2025 was repealed by Law No. 2025-1044 of 3 November 2025, and the 2026 budget left the thresholds unchanged (service-public.gouv.fr; service-public.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29). None of this reaches a foreign client: a B2B service to a business outside France is not subject to French TVA at all.
The requalification risk
French law starts from independence. Under Article L8221-6 of the Code du travail, a person registered with URSSAF or the trade register, or running a registered company, is presumed not to be the client’s employee: the présomption de non-salariat. The presumption falls when the contractor works in a lien de subordination juridique permanente, a permanent legal subordination to the client (code.travail.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29).
Courts define subordination as work under the authority of someone who gives orders and directives, checks their execution and can sanction failures. The Cour de cassation applied that test when it requalified an Uber driver’s relationship as employment in 2020 (Cass. soc., 4 March 2020, no. 19-13.316, checked 2026-09-29). Set hours, a manager assigning daily tasks, integration into your team and no other clients point to subordination. Deliverables, the contractor’s own tools and schedule, and other clients point away from it.
A requalified engagement can become travail dissimulé: fines of up to €45,000 and three years’ imprisonment for an individual and €225,000 for a company (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29), URSSAF back contributions, and a flat six months’ salary owed to the worker when the relationship ends (Code du travail L8223-1, checked 2026-09-29).
There is also a paperwork duty. For a contract of €5,000 or more excluding VAT, the client obtains the contractor’s URSSAF attestation de vigilance at signing and every six months; a client who skips it can be held jointly liable for a convicted contractor’s unpaid contributions and taxes (urssaf.fr, checked 2026-09-29).
Contract and IP
- A written services contract with scope, deliverables, rate and currency, plus independence markers: the contractor’s own tools and schedule, the right to serve other clients, no place in your reporting lines.
- An explicit cession de droits. The rule that software belongs to the employer covers employees only (CPI L113-9, checked 2026-09-29). A contractor keeps the rights until they assign them, and an assignment counts only if each right is named separately and limited in scope, purpose, territory and duration (CPI L131-3, checked 2026-09-29). A blanket assignment of all future works is void (CPI L131-1, checked 2026-09-29), so assign each deliverable as it is delivered and paid. Moral rights stay with the author and cannot be assigned (CPI L121-1, checked 2026-09-29). A US-style “work made for hire” clause alone does not do the job.
Taxes and paperwork on your side
Pay gross against invoices; a foreign client withholds no French tax. The invoice carries “Autoliquidation” for an EU client or “TVA non applicable – art. 259-1 du CGI” for a client outside the EU (impots.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29). US payers collect a W-8BEN (W-8BEN-E for an EURL or SASU) and file no 1099; services performed in France are foreign-source. France’s e-invoicing mandate, which requires every French business to receive e-invoices from 1 September 2026 and small businesses to issue them from 1 September 2027, covers invoices between businesses established in France (impots.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29). A foreign client keeps receiving an ordinary invoice, and the contractor reports the sale through e-reporting.
How to pay contractors in France
| Method | What the contractor sees | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SEPA transfer (EUR) | EUR on a French IBAN | At most one business day; the native rail |
| SEPA Instant (EUR) | EUR in under 10 seconds, 24/7 | Priced no higher than a standard SEPA transfer |
| Wise | EUR paid locally after conversion | For payers funding in USD or GBP |
A USD wire into a EUR account is converted at the receiving bank’s rate. Rails, fees, what breaks and platforms compared: how to pay contractors in France.
Contractor of Record in France
Because French law weighs how the work is done, a Contractor of Record that signs with the contractor and keeps contracts, invoices and attestations in order reduces misclassification risk. 4dev acts as Contractor of Record — the contracting party for each contractor — which reduces reclassification risk. Deel, Multiplier, Rivermate and Native Teams also sell Contractor of Record products; whether any liability moves to the provider depends on the indemnification clause, so read that rather than the product name. For consultants who want a salary, portage salarial is a French alternative: a portage company employs the consultant and invoices you, for assignments of up to 36 months (service-public.gouv.fr, checked 2026-09-29). For a full-time, directed, single-client role, hire through an EOR or your own entity. Compare providers in our COR rating.