Auto-entrepreneurs break €1bn mark

ALTHOUGH half of all auto-entrepreneurs have not declared a turnover for 2010, the other half are more than making up for them.

Figures from the Agence centrale des organismes de Sécurité sociale (Acoss) showed that the national turnover figure for auto-entrepreneurs in 2009 was €969 million, while the first half of 2010 notched up €1.1bn.

Business for the first four months was well above expectations, as a result of late declarations: instead of the predicted €393m of revenue, businesses said they had taken in €521m.

Small business minister Hervé Novelli, who created the auto-entrepreneur set-up, says he expects to see a total of €2.5bn this year.

Acoss, which is the fund behind Urssaf, said the turnover declaration figures showed that many entrepreneurs were either taking a break from their activity or had given it up altogether.

A total of 523,900 have signed up since the scheme was started in January 2009. A record 211,200 registered in first half of this year, but the numbers have since started to slow and the past three months have seen reduced figures.

The fédération des auto-entrepreneurs also says 12 per cent of its 18,000 members had succeeded in transferring to Eurl or Sarl status, reflecting the growth of their businesses.

However, Mr Novelli has said he is ready to look at changes to the scheme in the light of what they have already learnt and may, for example, look to strike off auto-entrepreneurs earlier than the previous three-year limit if they have not lodged turnover figures.

One change that has already been made is to do away with the pro-rata rule that worked out what an auto-entrepreneur would have made in a full year of working.

Businesses discovered that they had earned “too much” to stay in the regime, which had 365-day earnings ceilings in 2009 of €80,000 for traders and €32,000 for other services.

The tax authorities have dropped the rule for 2009 and the ceilings now apply to actual earnings, no matter how many days worked.