Affiliation

Any person working on their own account must declare their activity to the Social Security Centre (Centre commun de la sécurité sociale - CCSS) within 8 days.

In principle, any affiliated self-employed is covered for the following risks:

• health;
• work accident;
  
• pension;
• dependency.

They may also register voluntarily with the Employers' Mutual Insurance (Mutualité des employeurs - MDE) so they are covered against loss of income due to illness.

Confirmation is sent automatically to the self-employed person when processing their declaration form.

Persons concerned

The following persons must register as sole traders:

• who pursue a professional activity in a self-employed capacity under the remit of:
  • the Chamber of Skilled Trades and Crafts (Chambre des Métiers) (skilled craftspeople),
  • the Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de Commerce) (traders and manufacturers) or
  • the Chamber of Agriculture (Chambre d'Agriculture) (farmers);
• self-employed professionals, such as:
  • architects and engineers, chartered accountants, surveyors, patent attorneys, economic advisers, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers, auditors, pharmacists, artists, language teachers, insurance brokers, members of a board of directors receiving directors' fees, etc.

Managers of companies pursuing a commercial, craft, agricultural or intellectual activity who hold a trading permit, also must affiliate as self-employed if they:

• hold more than 25 % of the shares in a partnership (société en nom collectif - S.e.n.c.), a private limited partnership (société en commandite simple - S.e.c.s.) or a limited liability company (Sociéte à responsabilité limitée - S.à r.l.)  

or  

• are members of a board of directors and responsible for the day-to-day management of a public limited company (société anonyme - S.A.), a partnership limited by shares (société en commandite par actions - S.e.c.a.) or a cooperative company (société coopérative).

Preliminary steps

Natural persons who wish to pursue a self-employed activity requiring a specific authorisation issued either by the Ministry of the Economy or by other competent authorities, must have this permit in their possession before they start their self-employed professional activity.

How to proceed

Affiliation as a self-employed

Self-employed workers must affiliate with the social security by sending a declaration form for self-employed persons to the Social Security Centre (Centre commun de la sécurité sociale - CCSS) within 8 days after the start of their activity.

Self-employed persons who carry out their activity within the framework of a company must follow the affiliation procedures set out for private sector employees. Persons treated as self-employed workers (managing shareholders who hold more than 25 % of the shares or directors) must affiliate using the employee declaration form and not the declaration form for self-employed persons.

A change in the management or administration of a company may lead to a change of status of the self-employed. The CCSS must therefore be notified immediately if any trading permit is issued or cancelled, or if there are any changes to a company's articles of association.

The CCSS sends confirmation of affiliation to the self-employed person for data verification purposes.

 

Ancillary activity

A person may carry out an activity as an employee as well as a self-employed, the latter being considered as a secondary activity. In this instance, social security contributions for the ancillary activity are calculated using the actual income as a self-employed, or at least one third of the minimum wage, as a base. 

Occasional activity

If the self-employed person carries out his activity on a non-regular basis and for a foreseeable period of less than 3 months per calendar year, they may request a contribution exemption for health and pension coverage. Please note that a person exempted from paying for one type of coverage will not benefit from this particular coverage. However, payment of contributions for work accident insurance remains compulsory.

The said activity must be the only professional activity carried out by the interested party for it to be considered 'occasional'.

Reduction of contributions for pension insurance

If the professional income of a self-employed person is below the minimum wage, they may request a reduction of contributions for pension insurance. Nevertheless, contributions must be paid using at least one third of the minimum wage salary as the calculation base. Please note that if a reduction is requested, the reduced contribution base for pension will be taken into account on the pension insurance record for the period in question.

An application for a reduction in contributions must be requested at the start of affiliation or for a full fiscal year, i.e. from 1 January to 31 December.

Exemptions

Insignificant income

If the professional income of a self-employed person is below one third of the minimum wage, they may be exempted from affiliation for all social security coverage, on demand only. 

Please note that in case of complete exemption, persons are not covered against any risk.

Ancillary activity in cultural or sporting field

If a person carries out an ancillary activity in cultural or sporting field as a self-employed for a non-profit organisation, they may, at their own request, be exempted from health and pension affiliation. The applicant must meet 2 conditions:

• pursue this activity alongside a professional activity as an employee;
• have a professional income as a self-employed that lies below two thirds of the minimum wage per year (prorata on the duration of the activity).

Please note that a person exempted from paying for one type of coverage will not benefit from this particular coverage.

Voluntary membership to the MDE

In addition to compulsory affiliation, self-employed persons may register voluntarily with the MDE to cover possible loss of income in case of illness. 

Where applicable, this entry registration is automatically extended to the assisting spouse or partner.

Forms