Definition
Two freelance graphic designers, same trade, same turnover, both working from the living room table. In December the first pays a modest amount, the second noticeably more.
Not a square metre of office on either side, and no filing mistake: they simply do not depend on the same local council.
The minimum CFE base, called base minimum in the legal texts, is the notional rental value on which CFE (cotisation foncière des entreprises, the local business tax) is calculated when the business occupies no professional premises, or premises whose rental value stays below that base.
It is not an amount to pay, it is the starting point of the calculation: the bill equals that base multiplied by the rate voted by the council or the intercommunal authority of your Business address.
It exists for a simple reason. CFE taxes square metres, and a micro-entrepreneur working from home declares none: without a minimum base, there would be nothing to tax.
Article 1647 D of the French tax code therefore sets, for each band of Turnover, a range inside which every council fixes its own amount.
The 2026 minimum base scale
Here are the ranges applying in 2026. These are tax bases, expressed in euros, and not amounts due.
| 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 |
The turnover taken into account is that of the reference period: the year before last, failing that the previous year, scaled up to twelve months where the period was shorter.
Below €5,000 of reference turnover excluding tax, threshold included, no minimum contribution is charged in 2026.
These ranges are the ones set out in the French tax code as it stands in 2026.
If you come across a noticeably lower scale elsewhere, check its date before relying on it: the tax doctrine published online by the administration still rests on an older scale, and several practical pages are a year behind.
Where they disagree, the wording of the code prevails.
A worked case on €28,000
A web copywriter trading since 2022 wants to anticipate the CFE due for 2026. The administration looks at the 2024 turnover: €28,000.
That figure is above €10,000 without exceeding €32,600, so the second band applies, whose minimum base sits between €250 and €1,194 in 2026.
Her council has voted an amount inside that range, and her bill equals that amount multiplied by the local rate.
The calculation stops there, deliberately. 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 espace professionnel (business account) on impots.gouv.fr.
The figures in the 2026 scale, €597, €1,194, €2,509, circulate everywhere presented as the CFE to pay.
That is the most expensive mistake on this subject: they are tax bases, never amounts due.
No national CFE figure can be announced, and a website announcing one is quoting a price in place of your own council.
Minimum base versus real base: automatic substitution
As soon as a business has real net bases lower than the minimum base, the minimum base automatically replaces them.
That mechanism, set out in the tax doctrine, destroys two widespread beliefs.
The first: "I work from home, so I owe no CFE." Wrong, and that is precisely what the minimum base is there for.
The second concerns the halving of the base granted in the first year of taxation of a new operator: that reduction applies to the real base, which the minimum base replaces, so a micro-entrepreneur with no premises pays the full minimum base.
One confusion remains to clear up, that of the two €5,000 thresholds.
The CFE one looks at the turnover of the year before last and removes 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 other threshold concerns the Chamber of commerce levy, paid to URSSAF as a percentage of declared turnover, and its reference year should be checked in your Urssaf account; it is in any case only due from the second year of activity.
Two levies, two counters, two periods.
Frequently asked questions
Can my council change the minimum base from one year to the next?
Yes. The amount is set by a decision of the council or the intercommunal authority, inside the legal range of your band.
Your base can therefore move without your activity having changed by a single euro, and moving your registered business address to another council has the same effect.
I have not generated any turnover yet: which base will apply to me?
None. For a micro-entrepreneur with no employees, the year of creation for CFE purposes is the first year in which you actually generate turnover, and no CFE is due for that year.
If a notice reaches you before you have invoiced anything, ask your service des impôts des entreprises (local business tax office) to cancel it.
Where can I see the minimum base that was applied to me?
On your CFE notice, which is fully digital: it is available in your espace professionnel on impots.gouv.fr, never by post.
The balance is due on 15 December at midnight, and the 50% instalment of 15 June is owed, in 2026, only if your CFE and IFER for the previous year reach €3,000, which a minimum contribution almost never does.
If 15 December falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the deadline moves to the next working day.
Can an exemption cancel this base?
Yes, in some cases.
Besides the year-of-creation exemption that every business gets, some councils vote a three-year CFE exemption running from the year following creation, so years 2, 3 and 4.
It depends on a local decision: something to check with your own council, never to be treated as an acquired right.