2022 business property tax due by December 15

Do you run a business or have a self-employed professional activity? You must pay the balance of your business property tax (cotisation foncière des entreprises - CFE) by December 15, 2022 at the latest. Your tax notice is available on impots.gouv.fr, in your personal space.

What is the "cotisation foncière des entreprises"?

The cotisation foncière des entreprises, or CFE, is a local tax payable by companies and sole proprietors, including micro-entrepreneurs, whether they run their business from dedicated premises, from their customers' premises or from home.

Any person exercising a self-employed activity in France is liable for CFE, provided that this activity is exercised on a professional basis and is of a habitual nature. The nationality of the individual or legal entity carrying out the activity, its tax regime, its legal status and the nature of its activity have no impact on the CFE, which is due in all cases.

There are, however, a number of exemptions available on request or by operation of law. Firstly, all businesses are exempt from CFE in the year of their creation, and see their tax base divided by 2 the following year. Since 2019, businesses with sales not exceeding €5,000 over 12 months are also exempt from CFE.

Among the companies or individual entrepreneurs benefiting from full exemption are ambulance and cab drivers, under certain conditions, as well as primary school teachers and teachers of literature, science and the arts teaching in their own homes or those of their pupils, authors and midwives.

Optional exemptions are possible, subject to the agreement of the local authorities concerned, particularly for companies located in certain areas such as sensitive urban zones (ZUS) or rural revitalization zones.

CFE 2022: balance due by December 15 at the latest

All companies liable for CFE tax receive their tax notice electronically, in their personal space on the official tax website.

Companies and sole traders who have opted for monthly direct debit or payment by instalment have no formalities to complete, and are automatically debited with the amounts required by the tax authorities.

For the others, it is possible to opt for online payment or direct debit. Online payment is accessible from the government tax site until midnight December 15: if the bank account is already registered in the professional space, simply click on the "Pay" button above the notice.

Professionals can sign up for direct debit until midnight on November 30, 2022, on the government tax website or by calling 0809 401 401.