Definition
You have collected €40,000 this year building websites for your clients. Your first income tax return is due, and the question lands: will tax be charged on those €40,000? No.
The administration removes a percentage first, without asking you for a single receipt.
That is the standard allowance, the abattement forfaitaire: the share of your Turnover the tax office treats as your business costs and deducts before calculating anything.
The percentage depends only on your type of activity, never on what you actually spent. Nothing to prove, nothing to keep, nothing to itemise: this is the heart of the Micro-tax regime, and the trade-off is that you deduct no expense on top of it.
What remains once the allowance is applied is your taxable profit. That figure, and that figure alone, joins the rest of your household income on your return.
Three rates, depending on what you sell
In 2026 the administration applies three percentages, published on the official micro-regime fact sheet.
| Your activity | Allowance in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Sale of goods and hotel accommodation (BIC, industrial and commercial profits) | 71% |
| Commercial and craft services, classified tourist furnished rentals, chambres d'hôtes (bed and breakfast) | 50% |
| Liberal activity (BNC, non-commercial profits, article 102 ter of the tax code) | 34% |
One line of that table carries a tighter date than the others: for classified tourist furnished rentals and chambres d'hôtes, that 50% is the rate for 2025 income declared in 2026.
Their tax treatment has already changed twice in two years, and nothing guarantees it will hold for later income years.
One floor goes almost unnoticed: in 2026 the allowance never drops below €305, raised to €610 for a mixed activity.
The French tax code itself only states the €305; the doubling is how the administration reads the two allowances combined.
Above all, remember this: a BIC service provider and a BNC liberal professional share the same turnover ceiling, €83,600 for the years 2026 to 2028, but not the same allowance. What really separates the two categories is not the threshold, it is this percentage.
The calculation, on €40,000
Take that developer again, a non-regulated liberal professional, so BNC. On €40,000 collected in 2026, the 34% allowance removes €13,600.
That leaves €26,400 of taxable profit, the amount carried onto the 2042-C-PRO return and taxed on the income scale alongside the household's other income.
The same money earned as BIC services would attract a 50% allowance, so €20,000 of taxable profit.
The gap reaches €6,400 of taxable base for identical work: the category your activity falls into weighs more than everything else on your return.
The allowance is a flat rate, not a refund.
If that developer genuinely spent €20,000 on subcontracting and equipment, the administration still recognises only €13,600: tax is charged on profit that was never earned, and no receipt will change the calculation.
An activity with heavy costs should look at Switching to the actual regime, where expenses are deducted for their exact amount.
What the allowance does not reduce
One confusion is expensive every single year. The allowance is a tax measure: it does not shave a cent off your Social contributions, which are calculated on gross turnover collected.
The developer in our example, a non-regulated liberal professional attached to the régime général, contributes in 2026 at the rate of 25.6% applied to €40,000, so €10,240.
That rate covers neither the vocational training contribution, nor the chamber of commerce levy, nor income tax, and it does not apply to the regulated liberal professions affiliated to the Cipav, which have a rate of their own.
The same logic applies to the Flat-rate income tax: its rates also apply to gross turnover, so the allowance drops out of the calculation entirely.
It does not replace your contributions either: it settles income tax and nothing else, and URSSAF keeps collecting alongside it.
And in every case, taxable profit is not your disposable income: that is what is left once contributions, tax and your real expenses have been paid.
Frequently asked questions
Can I deduct my laptop or my travel on top of the allowance?
Never. The allowance is deemed to cover all of your business costs, purchases and travel included.
Adding them on top would count them twice, and the micro regime accepts no expense receipts at all.
Does my classified holiday rental still get the 71% allowance?
No, and plenty of pages online are still quoting the old figure.
For 2025 income declared in 2026, the allowance is 50% for classified tourist furnished rentals and chambres d'hôtes, and 30% for non-classified ones.
These are the rates set in the French tax code; they may change for later income years.
Do I have to enter the allowance anywhere on my return?
No: you report the turnover you collected, and the administration applies the percentage matching the box you filled in.
Getting the box wrong therefore means getting the allowance wrong, which is why the line you choose matters so much.