Definition
One December morning, a freelance developer working from the kitchen table opens the espace professionnel (business account) on impots.gouv.fr. A tax notice is waiting, payable by the 15th.
No office, no employee, not a single square metre rented: a tax is nonetheless owed to the local council.
This is the CFE, cotisation foncière des entreprises, the business property tax owed by anyone habitually carrying on a self-employed professional activity, whatever their legal form.
It replaced the old taxe professionnelle and funds the council where your Business address is registered.
It has nothing to do with your social contributions: it is paid to the tax administration, never to URSSAF.
Its principle is to tax the rental value of the premises used for the business. When there are no premises, or their value is negligible, a minimum base takes over instead.
That is the situation of almost every micro-entrepreneur.
Who pays it, and from when
In the year the business is created, nothing is due: no CFE is payable for the year of creation, under article 1478 of the French tax code.
Be careful with what that "year of creation" covers: for a micro-entrepreneur with no employees, it is the first year in which you actually generate Turnover, not the year you registered.
Registering in October 2026 and invoicing your first client in January 2027 pushes the exemption to 2027, and your first tax bill to 2028.
Two other doors exist.
If the turnover of the reference period, usually the year before last, or failing that the previous year scaled to twelve months, does not exceed €5,000 excluding tax, threshold included, no minimum contribution is charged in 2026.
And some councils vote a three-year CFE exemption, which runs from the year following creation, so years 2, 3 and 4: something to check with your own council, never to treat as an acquired right.
"An auto-entrepreneur is exempt from CFE for two or three years": false since 2014.
The temporary exemption specific to auto-entrepreneurs was repealed by the 2014 finance act, leaving only the year-of-creation exemption that every business gets.
A second common shortcut: below €5,000 of turnover you escape the minimum contribution, not the CFE itself.
A business whose premises have a rental value above the minimum base is still taxed on that value.
The calculation, worked through on €24,000
The rule fits in one line: CFE due = tax base multiplied by the rate voted by the council or the intercommunal authority.
The national scale sets the base only, never the amount to pay. Here are the minimum bases applying in 2026, from article 1647 D of the French tax code, according to the turnover of the year before last.
| Reference turnover | Minimum base in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Up to €10,000 | €250 to €597 |
| Above €10,000 and up to €32,600 | €250 to €1,194 |
| Above €32,600 and up to €100,000 | €250 to €2,509 |
| Above €100,000 and up to €250,000 | €250 to €4,183 |
| Above €250,000 and up to €500,000 | €250 to €5,974 |
| Above €500,000 | €250 to €7,769 |
One word on those amounts before going further: several official pages still display an older scale that was never updated.
If you find lower bases elsewhere, you have not misread anything: the consolidated text of the French tax code prevails, and that is what the table above reproduces.
Take our developer again, trading since 2023. For the CFE due for 2026, the administration looks at the 2024 turnover: €24,000.
That falls in the band above €10,000 and up to €32,600, whose minimum base sits between €250 and €1,194 in 2026.
The council has voted an amount inside that range, and the bill equals that amount multiplied by the local rate.
The amount actually due depends on the rate voted by your local authority: the national scale only sets the calculation base. Check your notice in your professional account.
With no premises, the real base is nil or negligible, and the Minimum CFE base automatically replaces it. That mechanism explains two things.
It makes "I work from home, so I owe no CFE" plainly wrong.
And it cancels out the halving of the base granted in the first year of taxation, which applies to the real base: a micro-entrepreneur with no premises pays the full minimum base.
What CFE is not
Three lines get confused with it. Your social contributions first, paid to Urssaf on declared turnover, with no connection to your council.
The Chamber of commerce levy next: unlike other businesses, a micro-entrepreneur pays the CCI and CMA chamber levies to Urssaf, as a percentage of turnover, and not together with the CFE. The additional levies and management fees shown on a CFE notice concern other taxpayers.
And finally taxe foncière (property tax), which targets the owner of a building, where CFE targets whoever runs a business in it.
Filing and paying without a nasty surprise
Two forms, regularly mixed up. Form 1447-C-SD is the initial return, to be filed by 31 December of the year of creation.
Form 1447-M-SD covers changes and exemption claims: for the CFE due in 2027, it must be filed before 5 May 2026.
Official sources disagree on whether the 1447-C-SD is compulsory, the tax code granting the exemption automatically while the Service-Public fact sheet asks for a claim: file it anyway, it costs nothing and secures the exemption.
In 2026 the notice is fully digital, and so is payment.
Creating your espace professionnel on impots.gouv.fr is therefore a prerequisite, otherwise the notice is never seen and the late penalty lands.
The balance is due on 15 December at midnight, and the deadline moves to the next working day when the 15th falls on a Saturday or a Sunday.
The 50% instalment of 15 June is owed only if your CFE and IFER for the previous year reach €3,000, a threshold set by article 1679 quinquies of the French tax code.
IFER targets network equipment that a micro-entrepreneur almost never owns, and a minimum contribution comes nowhere near that amount: you pay in one go.
Frequently asked questions
I have received no CFE notice: does that mean I am exempt?
No. In 2026 the notice is entirely digital and no longer arrives by post: it is available in your espace professionnel on impots.gouv.fr.
On the other hand, if you receive a notice while you have not yet generated any turnover, you can ask your service des impôts des entreprises (local business tax office) to cancel it.
I am closing my business mid-year: do I have to pay for the whole year?
No. Where the business ceases, no CFE is due for the remaining months of the year, and that reduction is claimed from your local business tax office after your Deregistration.
The asymmetry is worth knowing: where the business is simply transferred to a new operator, the previous operator remains liable for the entire year.
I rent out a furnished property: does CFE apply to me?
You become liable as soon as turnover or gross receipts excluding tax exceed €5,000, the threshold applying in 2026.
A permanent exemption exists for renting out part of your own home.
It also covers classified tourist rentals and chambres d'hôtes, the French bed and breakfasts, unless the council decides otherwise.
Two conditions apply together: the premises form part of your own home, and they are neither the main nor the secondary residence of the tenant.
Is my craft or artistic activity exempt for life?
Some craft and artistic activities are permanently exempt from business property tax, but each case comes with specific conditions that vanish as soon as the list is summarised.
Check your situation on the official fact sheet and with your local business tax office before relying on it.
Initial business property tax return (1447-C) fills in the 1447-C for the year you started, and Business property tax refund claim writes the claim when the charge is not owed.