Your entitlement turns on your income from two years before the option year: you will know which income to look at from your situation, and on which notice.
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Your situation sets the year to check and the deadline to opt in. The tax office does not look at this year's income but at the income from two years before the year in question: each card tells you which.
Information verified on October 1, 2026. Indicative assessment with no legal force. The rules it applies are taken from official sources and dated, but it knows of your situation only what you tell it: only the authorities can settle your case.
The official pages where we read the rules and amounts applied here.
Many look for the threshold in their earnings: it is not there. Entitlement only looks at your household's reference tax income, the figure on your tax notice. A consultant on €70,000 of turnover may qualify, while a seller on €20,000 may not, if their partner earns well.
The tax office compares the reference tax income of the year before last against the top of the second bracket of the previous year's scale. For an option applying in 2027, it therefore looks at your 2025 income, shown on the notice received in 2026. This lag is why the cap changes every year, and why a bad year only works in your favour two years later.
The published figure is per share of family quotient. A couple therefore doubles its cap, and each child raises it further. Enter the exact number from your notice rather than reconstructing it: shared custody produces quarter shares that no mental arithmetic will find.
| Option applies in | Income year looked at | Notice received in | Cap per share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2024 | 2025 | €29,315 |
| 2027 | 2025 | 2026 | €29,579 |
Earlier years are not listed: their deadline has passed and those figures were not confirmed against an official source. The cap follows the top of the second tax bracket, revalued each year.
Léa is a translator, lives alone and registers her micro-entreprise in October 2026. She wants the flat-rate option from the start.
For an option taken at registration in 2026, the tax office looks at her 2024 income: €27,800, under the €29,315 cap for one share. She can opt in.
For 2027, her 2025 income is what counts: €34,100, above €29,579.
The option therefore ends by itself on 1 January 2027, with no step on her part: a good year in 2025 costs her the right two years later.
Run the comparator. A lightly taxed household often pays less on the standard scale.
Apply to URSSAF by 30 September at the latest, to apply from the following 1 January.
If you register during the year, the deadline runs to the last day of the third month following registration.
Entitlement is rechecked every year. Rising income can take you out of it with no step on your part.
The default regime applies, and for a lightly taxed household it is often the better deal.
The cap is checked each year against a different income year. A drop in income may bring you back next year.
Your income tax return does not change. Your turnover goes on it as usual.
Remember to check again before 30 September each year. That is the deadline to opt in for the following year.
For a flat-rate tax option in 2027, the tax notice to use is the one received in 2026, covering your 2025 income. The rule always compares the income of the year before last with the option year: for 2028, it will be the notice received in 2027. This lag comes from article 151-0 of the French tax code.
The flat-rate tax income cap is €29,315 per share for an option applying in 2026 and €29,579 for 2027, because it follows the top of the second bracket of the income tax scale, which is revalued each year. Both figures are therefore correct, each for its own option year.
Your reference tax income is on the first page of your tax notice, in the “Vos références” box, next to your tax number. If it is not there, it is in the tax breakdown, under “Informations complémentaires”. Do not confuse it with the net taxable income, which is a different figure.
With quarter shares, enter the exact number of shares from your tax notice. The cap is multiplied by that figure, and shared custody can produce quarter shares you would not arrive at by working them out from your family situation.
Qualifying for the flat-rate tax option does not oblige you to opt in, and the option does not always pay off. If your household pays no income tax, it creates a charge with every declaration. Run the comparator to see what you gain, or what you lose.
You can give up the flat-rate tax option by 30 September at the latest, to leave on the following 1 January, in the same way you opted in. And if your reference tax income rises back above the cap, the option ends by itself.
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