ACRE (Aide à la Création ou à la reprise d'une Entreprise) provides partial exemption from social security charges for a pre-defined period, at the start of business for self-employed entrepreneurs. To benefit, you need to fill in the ACRE application form and send it to Urssaf, within 45 days of starting your business.
What is ACRE?
ACRE, or Aide à la création ou à la reprise d'une entreprise, is a scheme enabling entrepreneurs to benefit, under certain conditions, from a partial or total exemption from social security contributions at the start of their business.
ACRE replaced the former ACCRE scheme on January 1, 2019, resulting in different exemption rates and durations depending on whether the scheme was taken out until 2019 or from 2020 onwards, with the conditions for obtaining it and the new rates taking effect from 2020.
Who is eligible for ACRE?
First of all, you need to set up or take over a business, whether it's a sole proprietorship (including micro-businesses) or a company.
In the case of a company, to be considered as exercising control, the ACRE applicant must be in one of the following situations:
- Hold at least 35% of the capital personally, and more than 50% either personally or with a spouse, civil union partner, cohabitee or ascendants and descendants;
- Manage the company and hold at least 25% of the capital personally, and at least one-third personally or with a spouse, civil union partner, cohabitee or ascendants and descendants, provided that no other shareholder holds more than half the capital;
- If there is more than one ACRE applicant for the same company, at least one of them must be the company director, each must own a share of capital at least equal to one tenth of the main shareholder's share, and together they must own more than half the capital.
Other conditions must also be met. Before 2020, all business creators or new business owners were entitled to benefit from the ACRE, but since January 1, 2020, this is no longer the case. The business creator or new business owner must not have benefited from the former ACCRE scheme in the 3 years preceding his or her application, and must be in one of the following situations:
- Be a jobseeker receiving the Allocation d'Aide au Retour à l'Emploi (ARE) or the Allocation de Securisation Professionnelle (ASP);
- Be a jobseeker who is not receiving compensation, but has been registered with Pôle Emploi for more than 6 months in the 18 months preceding the ACRE application;
- Receive the revenu de solidarité active (RSA) or the allocation de solidarité spécifique (ASS) ;
- Must be between the ages of 18 and 25, or under 30 and have a recognized disability;
- Be a founder or new owner of a company located in a priority urban district (QPV);
- Be self-employed and not covered by the micro-social scheme;
- To have signed a business project support contract (CAPE);
- Receive the shared child-rearing benefit (PreParE).
ACRE application: what are the rates of exemption from social security contributions?
Business start-ups or takeovers who meet the conditions can benefit from a partial or total exemption from social security contributions, for 12 months from the date on which the company starts trading.
The following social security contributions are eligible for exemption: maternity, health insurance, disability, death, basic retirement and family benefits. However, contributions relating to compulsory supplementary retirement, the general social contribution, vocational training, the National Housing Assistance Fund and the risk of industrial accidents are not exempt.
The rate of exemption depends on business income. Business start-ups or takeovers generating annual income below a certain threshold, redefined each year, benefit from a total exemption, while no exemption is possible under the ACRE scheme when income exceeds a certain ceiling.
When annual income is between these two thresholds, the ACRE beneficiary pays only 50% of the social security contributions due, for 12 months from the date of starting work.
ACRE application form: how to fill it in and who to send it to?
To benefit from ACRE, if you are eligible for this scheme, you must apply for it in certain cases. Previously, all eligible business start-ups or takeovers automatically benefited from ACRE, with no special formalities required.
The procedure now differs depending on whether you are a microentrepreneur or not. Microentrepreneurs must complete the ACRE application form, and send it to Urssaf as soon as they submit their business start-up or takeover application, or within 45 days of submission.
However, there is no need to take any specific action for business owners or founders who are not covered by the microenterprise scheme: ACRE is automatically awarded to them, but checks may be carried out after the fact to ensure that the conditions for entitlement have been met.
The ACRE application form for microentrepreneurs has several sections. In the first section, applicants are asked to provide information on their identity and contact details. In the second section, they must specify their situation, i.e. the criteria they have met to qualify for the ACRE (claimant, 18-25 years old, under 30 years old, disabled, etc.).
You must then certify on your honor that you have not benefited from the ACCRE over the last 3 years, then sign, not forgetting to specify whether you are currently being supported under the NACRE program.
The NACRE scheme, which stands for "nouvel accompagnement pour la création ou la reprise d'entreprise", can be combined with the ACRE, and enables entrepreneurs to benefit not only from an exemption from social security contributions, but also from support in starting up their business and structuring their project financially.