URSSAF Contributions in Micro-Enterprise: Understand, Declare, Pay
URSSAF is the organisation that collects your social contributions as a micro-entrepreneur. Not understanding how it works risks penalties, reassessments or loss of social rights. Here is everything a French self-employed worker needs to know.
What is URSSAF?
URSSAF (Union for the Collection of Social Security and Family Allowance Contributions) is the body responsible for collecting social contributions from self-employed workers. As a micro-entrepreneur, you interact with it exclusively via the platform autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr.
Your contributions fund: health insurance, basic pension, supplementary pension, disability-death cover and family allowances. They do not fund unemployment insurance.
Registering with URSSAF
When you create your micro-enterprise at guichet-entreprises.fr, your file is automatically forwarded to URSSAF. Within a few weeks you receive:
- Your SIRET business registration number
- A welcome letter from URSSAF with your login credentials
- Access to your online account at autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr
Important: even before earning a single euro, you are immediately required to file declarations from the first period.
Monthly or quarterly: choosing your frequency
You choose between two declaration frequencies:
| Frequency | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | Smoothed cash flow, no nasty surprises | One declaration per month |
| Quarterly | Less admin | Larger payments every 3 months |
Advice: if your revenue is regular, prefer monthly. If your activity is very irregular (peaks then troughs), quarterly can be better.
You can change frequency once a year, before 31 October for the following year.
How to file your URSSAF declaration
Declarations are made exclusively online at autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr:
1. Log in with your credentials
2. Click "Declare my revenue"
3. Enter your gross revenue received during the period (not invoiced — actually received)
4. Verify the automatically calculated amount
5. Validate and pay
Zero revenue? Declare anyway. If you earned nothing in a period, you must still declare "€0". A non-declaration is penalised, even if you earned nothing.
Declaration deadlines
| Frequency | Declaration and payment |
|---|---|
| Monthly | Last day of the following month (e.g. January revenue → by 28/29 Feb.) |
| Quarterly | Q1 (Jan–Mar) → 30 April / Q2 → 31 July / Q3 → 31 October / Q4 → 31 January |
Mark these dates in your calendar — URSSAF does not systematically send reminders.
What happens if you are late?
A late declaration or payment triggers automatic surcharges:
- Late payment surcharge: 5% of contributions due (minimum 1% per additional month of delay)
- Non-declaration penalty: URSSAF can apply a notional assessment — often higher than your actual revenue
If you are facing temporary financial difficulties, contact URSSAF before the deadline: payment plans can be arranged. The organisation prefers an amicable arrangement to debt recovery proceedings.
Accepted payment methods
- Direct debit: recommended — the simplest option
- Bank transfer: possible, but you must initiate it yourself
- Online card payment: via your autoentrepreneur account
Avoid cheques — they cause processing delays and potential allocation errors.
ACRE in your declarations
If you benefit from ACRE, the reduced rates are applied automatically by URSSAF once your application is approved. You do not need to do anything specific in your declarations — URSSAF calculates the reduced amount itself.
Check your first contribution notice to confirm the ACRE rate is correctly applied.
The most common mistakes
- Declaring invoiced rather than received revenue: only declare what has actually hit your account
- Forgetting a zero-revenue period: the declaration is mandatory even with no income
- Not applying for ACRE within 45 days: a strict deadline with no exceptions
- Confusing revenue and profit: URSSAF wants your gross revenue, not your net profit