Definition
A water leak from the flat upstairs, on a Saturday morning. The water comes through the office ceiling and takes the laptop, the screen, the printer and the box of paper records with it.
On Monday, a client is waiting for a file that will not be sent. Nobody has damaged anybody else's property: it is your own equipment that is gone, and no liability policy will replace it.
Assurance multirisque professionnelle, or business package insurance, is the contract that bundles under a single policy number and a single premium the cover a business needs day to day.
It includes damage to premises, equipment and stock after fire, water, theft or breakage. It usually adds professional liability, and sometimes business interruption or legal costs.
It is not a legal category, it is a commercial bundle: no law says what a "multirisque" contract must contain, and every insurer builds its own.
So the only thing worth reading is the schedule of cover, never the name of the product.
What the word "multirisque" blurs together
The most common confusion is about which way the protection points.
Professional liability insurance pays for the harm you cause to others, package cover pays for the harm you suffer. Bad advice that costs a client money belongs to the first; a burgled workshop belongs to the second.
Two other guarantees often appear in the same quote, without always being there.
| Cover | What it pays for |
|---|---|
| Property damage | Your premises, equipment and stock after fire, water, theft or breakage |
| Professional liability (RC pro) | The loss suffered by a client or a third party because of your work |
| Legal expenses insurance | Lawyers' fees, expert reports and court costs in a dispute |
| Business interruption | The revenue missed while the activity is forced to stop |
One guarantee is never in there: the Ten-year building warranty (garantie décennale), compulsory for anyone carrying out construction work, is bought separately and proved by a certificate before the site opens.
A builder who signs a package policy believing everything is settled is working without the one insurance the law requires, and the client commissioning the work will be the first to notice.
What it really costs under the micro scheme
The advertised price is not the final cost, and not for the reason people assume.
Here is the calculation for a non-regulated freelance graphic designer, attached to the general scheme rather than to the Cipav fund, who collects 30,000 euros in 2026.
Her Social contributions come to 30,000 by 25.6%, the rate that applies to that activity in 2026, so 7,680 euros.
On top comes the vocational training contribution or CFP, 0.2% of turnover in 2026 for a liberal professional, so 60 euros.
It is due as soon as turnover was declared in the previous calendar year.
The overall rate covers neither that contribution, nor the chamber levy paid by craftspeople and traders, nor income tax.
On the tax side, her profit is calculated by taking off the Standard allowance of 34% that applies to BNC activities in 2026, leaving 19,800 euros taxable.
Once contributions and that levy are gone, she is left with 22,260 euros to live on, pay her tax and insure her business.
An insurance premium changes none of those three lines.
The allowance is deemed to cover all of your expenses: neither the premium nor the excess you pay when you claim can be deducted from anything. They come out of those 22,260 euros, once tax is paid.
So the right question is not how much tax the premium will save, since the answer is nothing, but how many days of revenue it would take to buy back the equipment that has just been destroyed.
The home insurance trap
"I work from home, my home insurance covers me." This is the most widespread mistake, and the most expensive.
A home policy insures a private life, not a business activity: the equipment used for work, the goods stored on site and a client visiting your Business address are usually excluded.
Worse, failing to tell your insurer about the activity gives it grounds to reduce or refuse a payout, including on a claim unrelated to work.
The useful reflex takes one phone call: declare the activity, ask for the extension designed for working from home, and get in writing what it actually covers.
Frequently asked questions
Is business package insurance compulsory?
Not for most activities: it is an optional contract, freely taken out and cancelled under its own terms.
Three situations make it hard to avoid, though: a commercial lease requiring the premises to be insured, a regulated profession whose governing body sets its own rules, and receiving clients on your premises, where the smallest accident puts you in the frame.
Can I deduct my premium from my turnover?
No, not under the micro scheme.
The administration applies a standard allowance meant to represent all of your expenses, 71% for the sale of goods, 50% for BIC services and 34% for BNC in 2026, and no actual expense is added on top.
Your insurance should therefore be measured against what it guarantees, never against a tax saving that does not exist here.
I work from home with no premises: do I still need a business policy?
Often yes, at the very least as an extension to your home contract, because professional equipment and client data fall outside the basic cover.
Watch out for a neighbouring confusion too: working from home does not exempt you from CFE, the business property tax.
Even without dedicated premises it is still due as a minimum charge, worked out on a base voted by your local council, as soon as your reference turnover, that of 2024 for the CFE due in 2026, goes above 5,000 euros.
How do I check that RC pro is genuinely included?
Open the attestation d'assurance (certificate of insurance), not the sales brochure: it names every guarantee taken out, its limits and its exclusions.
If professional liability is not spelled out there, it is not covered, whatever the word "multirisque" printed on the quote suggests.
The rules on insuring a business can be checked on the French finance ministry website. Rates and allowances up to date as of 5 September 2026.