Definition
Two developers start trading three weeks apart, one in late June 2026, the other in early July. Same job, same prices, 15,000 euros collected each over the relief period.
The second will still pay close to a thousand euros more in contributions than the first. Nothing in their files sets them apart: the start date decides, and nothing else does.
ACRE (aide à la création ou à la reprise d'une entreprise, the start-up and business-takeover relief) is a reduction in Social contributions granted at the beginning of an activity.
It pays out nothing: it lowers the rate you apply to the Turnover you collect during your first quarters.
The relief covers health and maternity cover, daily sickness benefits, the basic pension, invalidity and death cover, and family allowances.
CSG-CRDS (the general social levies), the vocational training contribution and the supplementary pension all remain due.
That floor of non-exempt contributions explains an oddity in the table below: for businesses started before 1 July 2026, the reduced rate of a Cipav member is not half of their full rate, it is higher.
What changed on 1 July 2026
The ACRE described by most pages online no longer exists for new founders.
It still halves contributions for anyone whose start of activity was declared by 30 June 2026, and for their whole relief period: the rate follows the start date, not the current year.
But for activities created from 1 July 2026, the rate paid is set at 75% of the full rate, rounded up to the nearest tenth of a point, under décret n° 2026-69 of 6 February 2026.
Here are the rates applying in mainland France, as published in 2026 by the auto-entrepreneur portal of URSSAF.
| Declared activity | Full 2026 rate | ACRE, started up to 30/06/2026 | ACRE, started from 01/07/2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sale of goods, catering, accommodation | 12.3% | 6.2% | 9.3% |
| Commercial and craft services (BIC, business profits) | 21.2% | 10.6% | 15.9% |
| Non-regulated liberal professions, general scheme | 25.6% | 12.8% | 19.2% |
| Regulated liberal professions attached to Cipav | 23.2% | 13.4% | 17.4% |
| Classified tourist furnished rentals | 6% | 3% | 4.5% |
The headline of this reform is a vocabulary trap, and it comes from the official texts themselves.
The Cnav circular states that "the reduction amounts to 75% of the overall rate".
Its own tables say the opposite of what that sentence suggests: 75% is the rate paid, not the share wiped out.
The relief does not rise to 75%, it falls from 50% to 25%. A BNC service provider starting in June 2026 pays 12.8%, the same person starting in July pays 19.2%.
The slider below moves one variable only, the month the business starts, and leaves everything else untouched.
Saved : 1,920 €
Starting before 1 July 2026: relief is 50%.
ACRE runs until the end of the third calendar quarter following the one in which the business started, and its duration does not depend on turnover: it runs out even if you invoice nothing. Since 1 January 2026 it must be requested from URSSAF, within sixty days of starting.
On 15,000 euros collected during the relief period, a non-regulated professional pays 1,920 euros having started in June 2026 (15,000 by 12.8%) and 2,880 euros having started in July (15,000 by 19.2%).
Without ACRE, the bill would have been 3,840 euros. The reform does not abolish the relief: it cuts the saving from 1,920 euros to 960 euros over the same period.
A duration counted in quarters, and easily wasted
"ACRE lasts twelve months" is true outside the micro scheme and false inside it.
For a micro-entrepreneur, the reduced rate runs until the end of the third calendar quarter following the one in which the activity started, so between nine and twelve months depending on the date.
A start on 30 September 2026 ends on 30 June 2027: nine months exactly. A start on 1 October 2026 runs to 30 September 2027, a full twelve months.
Beginning on the first day of a calendar quarter is therefore worth one extra quarter of relief, all else being equal.
Since 1 January 2026, ACRE is no longer granted automatically: it must be requested from Urssaf within 60 days of the start date declared to the One-stop shop, or it is lost.
Do not wait for the affiliation certificate, which arrives several weeks later.
And do not apply before the business is genuinely running: the relief period runs even if your turnover is zero, and you then have to wait three years before qualifying again.
Urssaf has one month from receipt of the application to answer. With no answer within that month, ACRE is presumed granted.
Presumed, not awarded: a presumption can be reversed during an audit, which makes it worth keeping the evidence for the criterion you relied on.
What ACRE is not
Three confusions come up again and again.
ACRE is not Capitalised unemployment benefit (ARCE): that one is paid by France Travail, turns part of the remaining unemployment entitlement into a lump sum, and never touches contributions.
One letter apart, nothing else in common.
ACRE is not a tax break either. It lightens social contributions, never income tax, which is calculated separately and remains due in full.
Finally, the thresholds of 36,045 euros and 48,060 euros quoted almost everywhere do not concern the micro scheme.
They apply to self-employed workers under actual-profit rules, for whom ACRE lasts twelve months and covers 25% of contributions up to 36,045 euros of income in 2026, then tapers off progressively until it disappears at 48,060 euros, the 2026 annual social security ceiling.
The two groups did not switch on the same day either: under actual-profit rules the relief fell to 25% as early as 1 January 2026, whereas the micro scheme only changed on 1 July.
A micro-entrepreneur applies a reduced flat rate to the whole of their turnover, with no income threshold of their own.
Frequently asked questions
Who qualifies for ACRE in 2026?
Since 1 January 2026, you must fall into one of the categories listed in article L5141-1 of the labour code, or trade in a rural revitalisation zone, ZFRR as well as ZFRR+, under the new rules published by Urssaf.
That condition previously applied to micro-entrepreneurs only: it now covers every self-employed worker.
Each criterion needs supporting evidence, and the list should be read in the article itself rather than in a summary.
Can ACRE be claimed twice?
Not within three years.
The condition is not having benefited from ACRE during the three preceding years, counted from the end of the previous relief and not from the previous business creation.
Restarting an activity adds a waiting period of one calendar year. Neither a change of trading location nor a change in trading conditions counts as a new start of activity.
Does ACRE cost pension quarters?
No. Entitlements are calculated on the contribution that would have been due without it, so the Basic state pension loses nothing.
One condition is never optional, though: being up to date with payment. ACRE costs no entitlement at all, whereas arrears certainly do.
Is ACRE still worth claiming after 1 July 2026?
Yes: a quarter off contributions for nine to twelve months is still a quarter, which is 960 euros kept on 15,000 euros collected as a non-regulated professional, for an application that takes a few minutes.
The only real decision is the date: better to delay the declared start of activity than to burn the relief on an empty period. 2026 values, page up to date as of 5 September 2026.
ACRE application (URSSAF form) checks the sixty-day deadline and fills in the URSSAF form; ACRE calculator works out what the relief actually leaves you.