Definition
When you register your business, one box on the form offers the versement libératoire de l'impôt sur le revenu (paying income tax at a flat rate on turnover).
Many people tick it because it looks simple, others leave it blank because they do not understand the question. Either way, the decision gets made without knowing what it costs.
It is simply a way of paying your income tax.
Instead of waiting for next summer's tax assessment, you pay a percentage of your Turnover at the same time as your Social contributions, with every monthly or quarterly declaration to URSSAF.
The year's tax is settled as you go, with no later adjustment.
The three 2026 rates, and what they do not cover
The rate depends on your activity and applies to the turnover you declare, excluding VAT.
In 2026 it is 1% for trade, catering and hotel accommodation, 1.7% for services taxed as BIC (industrial and commercial profits), furnished rentals of every kind and chambres d'hôtes (bed and breakfast), and 2.2% for liberal professions taxed as BNC.
One exit went almost unnoticed: since 1 January 2026, non-classified tourist furnished rentals no longer come under the auto-entrepreneur scheme on the social side.
Since the versement libératoire is requested from URSSAF and paid alongside contributions, it is no longer open to them, even though the tax code still keeps a micro scheme for them on the tax side.
These rates cover income tax only: social contributions come on top, and the total levy is far higher.
Two mix-ups come back again and again: the 1% rate does not apply to furnished rentals, which sit at 1.7%, and the 1.7% rate does not apply to every service, since those taxed as BNC sit at 2.2%.
The calculation that decides
Take a liberal professional who collects 30,000 € in 2026.
With the option, the tax is 2.2% of that amount, or 660 €, paid monthly or quarterly, and it comes on top of your social contributions rather than replacing them.
Without it, the tax office first removes the micro-BNC Standard allowance, 34% in 2026: the taxable base drops to 19,800 €, and the progressive scale applies to that.
If the household bears an average tax rate of 6%, the tax comes to 1,188 €. The option saves 528 € that year.
The simulator below moves that average rate around and shows exactly where the two methods meet.
The two are equal at 3.3 %
The flat-rate option costs you less, and the gap widens as your average rate rises.
The average tax rate is your household's, not your marginal bracket: total tax divided by total taxable income, as shown on your tax notice. The calculation ignores other household income, which shifts the amounts without moving the tipping point.
The result fits in one division: the option takes its cut from the whole turnover, while the scale only hits the 66% still taxable after the allowance.
Dividing 2.2 by 66 gives the threshold, and the versement libératoire starts winning above an average tax rate of 3.3% for BNC.
The same calculation gives 3.4% for BIC services and for trade. Below that, it makes you pay more than the standard scale would.
Three activities, three allowances, three rates, and almost the same tipping point: that is what makes the rule easy to remember.
A household that owes no tax pays nothing under the scale, yet still pays the versement libératoire: on 30,000 € collected as a liberal professional, that is 660 € handed over for a tax bill that would otherwise have been zero.
This is the classic trap of the early years.
Who can opt in, and by when
The option is limited to households whose revenu fiscal de référence (reference tax income) stays below a ceiling.
The income looked at is that of the year before last, not the previous year: for a versement libératoire applying in 2026, it is the reference tax income for 2024, shown on the tax notice received in 2025.
The ceiling set for 2026 is 29,315 € per household unit, raised by 50% for each additional half unit and by 25% for each quarter unit, which puts a couple at 58,630 €.
For an option taking effect in 2027 it rises to 29,579 €, based on 2025 income.
These are not two versions of one figure but two option years: article 151-0 of the French tax code compares the reference tax income of the year before last with the upper limit of the second income tax bracket of the previous year.
Two shifts that stack up, and two amounts that coexist without contradicting each other.
The deadline matters as much as the amount. An option exercised before 30 September takes effect on 1 January of the following year, never mid-year.
The one exception is registration: the option applies from day one if you request it by the last day of the third month following the month of registration.
Opting out follows the same rule, 30 September for effect on 1 January. A second condition is often forgotten: staying under the micro scheme's Turnover threshold.
What it does not exempt you from
The versement libératoire is often confused with Withholding tax, which is something else entirely: that one takes instalments the tax office calculates from your past income, then reconciles them the following year.
The versement libératoire instead clears the tax due on each payment received, the moment you declare it.
It does not, however, remove the annual income tax return.
Your turnover still has to be entered on Form 2042-C-PRO, in the box reserved for micro-entrepreneurs who opted for the prélèvement libératoire, as the DGFiP page on the scheme states.
This entry triggers no second taxation: it feeds the effective rate calculation, the reference tax income and the retirement savings deduction ceiling.
The return is due even with zero turnover.
Frequently asked questions
Does the versement libératoire replace my social contributions?
No. The rates of 1%, 1.7% and 2.2% cover income tax and nothing else.
They are added to your social contributions on the same URSSAF declaration, and URSSAF collects them on behalf of the tax administration before passing them on.
Can I drop the option if it no longer suits me?
Yes, by telling URSSAF before 30 September, for effect on 1 January of the following year.
As with joining, nothing changes mid-year: you finish the year you started under the arrangement you chose.
I rent out a classified tourist furnished property, which rate applies?
The 1.7% rate, as for every furnished rental and for chambres d'hôtes.
The 1% rate covers only trade, catering and hotel accommodation: applying it to a furnished rental is the mistake that costs landlords the most.
How do I know whether the option is worth it for me?
Compare your average tax rate, which appears on your tax notice, with the tipping point for your activity: 3.3% for BNC, 3.4% for BIC services and for trade.
Above it the option makes you pay less; below it, it costs you more than the standard scale. 2026 values, page up to date as of 5 September 2026.