Registering as microentrepreneur artisan

Hello All
Thank you for having me on your forum.
I have seen some very helpful and knowledgeable members passing on their extremely useful advice on here and I thought I may be able to find some of the information I need here. So far I have had different answers everywhere I ask.

I have been living in france for quite a few years and having previously been registered as an agriculteur now wish to register as a microentrepreneur as probably an artisan as well as possibly a commercant and profession liberale.
I have read that if one was previously an agriculteur then there is no need to do the SPI course that is obligatory to register as an artisan. Can anybody confirm if this is definitely correct?

Also is it complicated to register for 3 activities and is it proportional as to which is the primary, secondary and tertiary activity? How is this worked out?

If anyone can offer any factual information I would be very grateful indeed.
Thank you

1 Like

[quote=“Bethm, post:1, topic:14825”]
I have read that if one was previously an agriculteur then there is no need to do the SPI course that is obligatory to register as an artisan. Can anybody confirm if this is definitely correct?[/quote]
Yes - your chambre de métiers will be able to confirm one way or the other. It’s their decision, they need to confirm your exemption, so all anybody else can do is second-guess what they would decide. As I understand it the decision is not automatic, they would look at details of your past activity, your artisan qualifications and references, etc.
I would be quite surprised, to be honest, because I don’t see a lot of connection between being an agriculteur, which is excluded from ME, and all the rules that ME artisans need to be made aware. But you never know.

Registering for mixed activities is not particularly complicated but it may not be permitted if they feel the activities are incompatible. You need to register as your main activity the one that you expect to bring in the most income. Then you register the other as a secondary activity. You keep separate records for each income stream and declare them on different lines of the declaration, so that the appropriate cotisations can be collected for each.

Mixed activities are explained here

and if you scroll down a bit there is a chart that shows how each scenario works. I do note, though, that it stops at activité secondaire. You can mix two but I think trying to bung all three into the mix might be pushing it. One is expected to have a well-focused business activity, specialise in that and build it up; I suppose the thinking is, jack of all trades master of none.

Hope this helps.

Hello

Thank you so much for your very prompt and helpful reply.
I did try and ask the chambre by telephone but I didn’t get anywhere and I am unable to get there easily at the moment to get any more information from them directly.

My problem is that I am unable to attend a SPI course for the foreseeable future for unsurmountable practical reasons but I want to and need to be able to work,

I process organic fibres, and produce numerous items with yarn, and felt as well as the yarn and felt textiles themselves. But I also want to be able to sell a range of associated tools and equipment as well and provide a processing service and classes in spinning, knitting, natural dyeing etc. It is well focussed but encompasses all three areas of activity.

So I am trying to find a simple and quick way to be able to actually register and start selling. Maybe it doesn’t exist!

Thanks again

I do hope you get it all sorted. Your ideas sound fascinating… and, as you say, all revolve around the main subject… fibres/yarns

good luck

It does sound fascinating, I love stuff like that. I remember when I won the lottery I treated myself to a holiday on Skye and bought a jumper from a person who had raised the sheep and done everything through to creating the finished product herself, it was the most expensive garment I ever bought in my life and I still have it (albeit a bit manky after 30-odd years!).

Since your type of “artisan” doesn’t involve building guarantees and insurance and not doing what you’re not registered to do and all, which I think is the real subtext of the course, I think if you can get to talk to somebody and convince them that you know your trade and you have run businesses before, there is an excellent chance you will be exempted. Does your communauté des communes not have any kind of business service that would be more convenient for you to liaise with? Mine has a “centre formalités d’entreprise” where a chap from the chamber of commerce holds a surgery once a week or twice a month or something.

There have also been a couple of organisations that have tried to set up an option for taking the course online, last time I looked I couldn’t find anything that looked operational but I just looked again now and this one looks as if it might actually be up and running - could be worth looking into?
http://spienligne.omendo.com/

Best of luck

Thank you Stella for your kind wishes. Yes it is fascinating, a wonderful way to spend your time. Half of the time up to my elbows in pretty grubby and rather stinky fleeces etc. But such a miraculous process to turn what can look pretty awful into fabulous soft yarns and fabrics. It never fails to amaze me and I’ve been doing it most of my life.
My favourites are the very fine fibres, they are just magical, people cant help touching them! Once you have worn them you don’t want anything else, especially as they are the warmest fibres you can find.

But we make a wide range of items from clothes and accessories of course to household textiles. I am on an ongoing quest to use wool and natural fibres for as much as we possibly can in our home, it’s a fascinating project.

Thank you Anna for your enormous help.
Winning the lottery sounds amazing!
I have visited Skye and other islands a few times and I love all the fantastic craftworks that are produced and the designs passed down.
I’m glad you loved your hand produced jumper, I do think items like that are ones to treasure and it is amazing how long they can last for. Its surprising how many people say they have a woollen jumper or item of clothing that belonged to their parents or even grandparents that they still wear. And of course there are some fantastic woollen baby blankets and shawls that have been kept in families for several generations.

Unfortunately there don’t seem to be any permanences at all in our department they all seem to have been cancelled one by one over the last few years.
I haven’t found any kind of business/enterprise service nearby that can help me, the only choice seems to be our nearest city which at the moment I just can’t do. I will try again by phone and keep asking around.
Thanks for the link to the course online that could be just what I was looking for, it may well solve the problem. I can’t work out what the cost might be though.

Can I just ask one last question in case you know the answer? If I registered online as a commercant for my primary activity do I register as an artisan for my secondary activity at the same time? (can I in fact?)
And if it was that the artisan sales ended up being higher than the commercant sales, would that be a problem? Would I have to alter anything as and when that happened?
I’m not trying to avoid doing anything correctly, just trying to find a way through to being able to work as soon as I can.

Thanks again

You can register for both activities at the same time, or you can apply to add activities later. Obviously it saves paperwork if you do it all at the same time although adding or changing activities isn’t over complicated. And obviously, too, you need to add the activity ahead of generating any income from it, otherwise you’ll be stuck when it comes to the declaration - declaring income from an activity you’re not registered for, would be problematic…

If the situation changes with regard to which is your main activity, again you would just go through the “modification of activity” procedure. I suppose that if you didn’t, URSSAF would pick up on it at the end of the year because they would see the disparity in the figures and they might chase you up to sort it out.

Within limits, it’s all quite flexible, the scheme is designed to take into account the fact that businesses evolve.