What is Contribution Fonciere des Entreprises (CFE)?

By Valérie Aston on 6 December 2013 · Viewed 39134 times ·

Contribution Fonciere des Entreprises (CFE) is a small tax paid by ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôºes to local authorities (Chambre de Metiers / Chambre de Commerce / Town hall). It used to be called Taxe Professionnelle and can cost between 180 euros to 900 euros per year for a small ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº. The bill is sent by Impot in October / November time.

The amount of your CFE varies according to the size of your ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº (number employees, building, heavy machinery / plant etc.) and the town or village your ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº is registered in. A small ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº with no employees in a village may pay 300 euros, while the same activity in a big town like Lille or Paris might pay 700 euros.

All new ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôºes benefit from a CFE exoneration for their first year in ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº. So far all auto-entrepreneurs registered since 2009 have benefit from an exoneration (up to 4 year exoneration). This will change in 2014 as the Projet de Loi de Finance will define a new and hopefully fairer way to pay CFE.

As a new auto-entrepreneur / ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº, you will benefit from an exoneration in your 1st year. However you still have to complete the form sent by Impots requesting for extra information about your ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº premises.


Valerie Lemiere: Start Business in France

About the author: Valérie Aston

I've been helping people who want to start or already have a small ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº set up in France since 2009. After graduating from a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, I worked as a senior marketing consultant in the UK and France for various International companies. I worked as a conseillère en création d'entreprises (senior ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº advisor) for here in France and run this independent ÌÒÖ­Ó°Ôº on a daily basis.