At a time when freelancing and digital technologies are becoming increasingly popular, enabling people to become truly nomadic and work on the other side of the world while keeping their clients in France, one question inevitably springs to mind: can you live abroad while working as an auto-entrepreneur (micro-entrepreneur) ? Here are some answers to help you make sense of the situation.
Can you live abroad as a self-employed entrepreneur?
Good news! You can now live abroad while working as an auto-entrepreneur (micro-entrepreneur) in France.
The advantage of this legal form is that the micro-enterprise regime allows you toconduct your business abroad.
Be domiciled in France
The only conditions that apply to being able to live abroad are that you must be of French nationality and have your company registered in France.
There are a number of ways of doing this. You can set up your head office at a simple post office box, or use the address of your friends or family.
For added simplicity and professionalism, you can also choose to have your business address registered with a commercial company, which not only provides you with a prestigious, well-known address, but also allows you to have your business mail forwarded or scanned.
In fact, if you live abroad and are an auto-entrepreneur, you've set up your micro-enterprise in France. Your taxes will therefore be paid to the French government.
As your taxes and social security contributions are in full discharge of your obligations, as soon as the percentage due is paid to the government, there's no problem for you.
Pay your taxes in your country of residence
As you can see, even if the auto-entrepreneur status is flexible and allows you to carry on your business abroad, you will still have to pay tax to the French government.
You will have to declare your sales and pay the tax corresponding to the percentage to be applied according to the nature of your business.
As you now know, you have to pay taxes in France, but what about taxes in the host country?
Be in good standing with your host country
As far as the legal aspect of your situation is concerned, international legislation is not yet adapted and does not provide a framework for the payment of tax. In the event of a tax treaty between the two countries, you will be liable for tax in your host country.
In all cases, we advise you to find out about the specificities of your host country and take the necessary steps to obtain a valid work permit.
You can also issue invoices abroad.
Whether you're an individual or a company, you can issue invoices to your customers abroad. If you're in the European Union, you'll need to apply for an intracommunity VAT number, as this is a legal requirement in the European Union, even though auto-entrepreneurs don't charge VAT.
If you choose to issue invoices in a foreign currency, you'll need to clearly state the currency unit used. Note that when you pay your social security contributions and taxes, this will be done in euros, so you will have to convert the amounts received into euros.
Think about converting your invoices
In order to comply with the law, we advise you to convert your invoice amount using the official exchange rate on the day of collection. You can use the European Central Bank rate. Be aware, however, that this conversion may result in a different amount than what you actually received in euros. This is because the banks charge exchange commissions which are not deductible when you declare your contributions.
So, as an auto-entrepreneur, you can live abroad and do business in your host country. However, you will need to register your company in France. While this can be done via a P.O. box, or at your friends' or family's home, the most suitable solution is domiciliation via a commercial company.
Strategic address
In addition to a strategic address, these companies will enable you to benefit from mail forwarding and even scanning. With this constraint out of the way, you'll be able to concentrate on the development and growth of your business.
Written by our expert Antoine Dubois
October 18, 2017
