Definition
A plumber several years into business declares €4,000 of services for the quarter, applies the 2026 rate of 21.2% learned by heart and sets €848 aside. Urssaf takes €879.20.
Around thirty euros more, with no explanation on screen: the extra covers the chamber of trades levy, plus the vocational training contribution on top.
The chamber levy is what you pay to your CCI (chambre de commerce et d'industrie, the local chamber of commerce) or to your CMA (chambre de métiers et de l'artisanat, the chamber of trades), the bodies that represent businesses in your department.
Under the micro-entreprise scheme it takes a particular form: it is worked out as a percentage of declared Turnover and collected by URSSAF alongside your Social contributions, where other businesses pay it with their business property tax.
Two levies share the name. The TCCI (taxe pour frais de CCI) targets traders. The CMA levy targets craftspeople.
What puts you in one camp or the other is the nature of the activity declared at registration, which your APE code reflects: a craftsperson also registered as a trader falls under both, at a reduced CCI rate.
The rates that apply in 2026
They are set by statute, not by your chamber, and there is nothing to negotiate.
The CCI rates appear in article 1600 A of the French tax code, in the version in force since 1 March 2026; the CMA rates in article 1601-0 A, which the 2026 finance act left untouched.
| Your situation | 2026 rate on turnover |
|---|---|
| Trader, services (CCI) | 0.044% |
| Trader, sale of goods, catering, accommodation (CCI) | 0.015% |
| Craftsperson with dual registration (CCI) | 0.007% |
| Craftsperson, services (CMA, standard law) | 0.48% |
| Craftsperson, buying and selling (CMA, standard law) | 0.22% |
| Craftsperson in Bas-Rhin or Haut-Rhin (CMA) | 0.65% on services, 0.29% on buying and selling |
| Craftsperson in Moselle (CMA) | 0.83% on services, 0.37% on buying and selling |
Two mistakes circulate widely about these rates.
The first swaps the two CCI figures: the statute in force in 2026 says 0.044% for services and 0.015% for the sale of goods, not the other way round.
The logic holds up: for the same added value, a service provider records lower turnover than a reseller, so a higher rate is needed to raise a comparable contribution.
The second mistake announces "0.48% everywhere in France" and forgets the local law: a craftsperson providing services in Moselle pays 0.83% in 2026, which is 0.35 of a percentage point of turnover more.
The sum worked through on €10,000
Take a craftsperson providing services in Loire-Atlantique who declares €10,000 over the year 2026, and who is past the first year of activity.
Social contributions come to 21.2% of turnover in 2026, or €2,120. The artisan Vocational training contribution adds 0.3%, or €30. The chamber of trades levy adds 0.48%, or €48.
So €2,198 goes to Urssaf: the real rate is not 21.2% but 21.98%.
Change one parameter and the amount moves. The same craftsperson in Moselle pays €83 of chamber levy instead of €48, so €2,233 in total.
A trader providing services, on identical turnover, pays €10 of CFP and €4.40 of CCI levy, so €2,134.40: nearly €64 less than the craftsperson, on exactly the same contribution rate.
These two side lines create the gap, not the rate everyone looks at.
The two cases where you pay nothing
Below €5,000 of turnover, the chamber levy is not due, and in any case it only becomes payable from the second year of activity.
That threshold is read over a full year, never over the amount of a single quarter: our plumber, with €4,000 declared over three months, clears it comfortably across the year.
One caveat: the official fact sheet and Urssaf describe neither the reference year nor the exact cut-off in the same terms, the statute exempting turnover of €5,000 or below where the Urssaf page writes "under".
Check which reference year applies, and the breakdown of the amount taken, in your Urssaf account.
What the chamber levy is not
It is not the CFE, the local business property tax.
That one goes to the tax administration, on a minimum base tied to your local council: your turnover only places you in a bracket of that base, it is never a percentage of it.
Your chamber levy therefore never appears on your CFE notice, unlike the position of other businesses: Urssaf has already collected it.
And the €5,000 threshold that exempts you from the minimum CFE charge is not the chamber one: it looks at the turnover of the year before last.
Nor is it the CFP, the vocational training contribution, even though both are triggered in the same place, in the wake of your Turnover declaration.
The CFP funds your own training and falls due as soon as positive turnover was declared in the previous calendar year, with no €5,000 floor beneath it.
Frequently asked questions
I have never received an invoice from my CCI: is that normal?
Yes. Under the micro-entreprise scheme no chamber invoices you for anything: the levy is built into the Urssaf payment that follows your turnover declaration.
The amount appears in the detailed breakdown, inside your online account.
I work in a liberal profession: do I owe a chamber levy?
The published rates cover traders only, for the CCI, and craftspeople only, for the CMA.
A liberal activity attached to neither chamber falls outside the scheme, although it still owes the vocational training contribution.
The breakdown of the amounts taken, in your Urssaf account, settles your own case.
I am declaring €0 this quarter: do I still have to pay?
No. The chamber levy is a percentage of declared turnover: with nothing declared it comes to zero, exactly like your contributions.
That is what sets it apart from the CFE, which is not a percentage of what you take in but a minimum base tied to your local council.
I have just started out: when does the first levy arrive?
Not before your second year of activity, and only if your turnover goes above the €5,000 threshold.
A first year at €40,000 therefore triggers no chamber levy for that year, which surprises a great many founders when the line finally shows up on their second year.