Professional Sellers: Your Administrative and Accounting Obligations
New in 2025: The tax regulation change on the VAT threshold has been postponed to 2026 and will be discussed in the assembly.
On February 5, the 2025 finance law was enacted for the approval of the State budget. This bill includes an important amendment aimed at establishing a single turnover threshold below which VAT exemption applies.
The VAT exemption threshold for commercial activities is reduced from €85,000 per year to €25,000/year.
This threshold applies to all forms of companies (sole proprietorship, corporation, etc.).
In short, if you have already exceeded or expect to exceed €25,000 in turnover, you must charge VAT and declare (and pay) it to the state. (a tolerance threshold of €27,500 has been introduced). This threshold is easily reached if 100% of your activity is freelance.
However, given the abruptness of the measure, a postponement of its application and to prepare for its implementation had been set for June 1, 2025, but this has been postponed again to 2026 without a concrete calendar in mind.
The old thresholds remain in force, we will stay attentive to this regulatory change to alert you as best as possible.
Important clarification: For turnover generated on Selency: The turnover to be considered is the gross turnover, i.e., including Selency's commission (because if you are liable for VAT you will be able to deduct VAT on the commission invoice issued by Selency).
How to know if you must declare yourself as a professional on the platform?
As a seller on the Selency platform, you are considered a merchant, either private or professional.
A professional status legally obliges you to respect certain legal, social, and tax obligations toward the State.
French law does not define an exact criterion for professional status. But the qualification depends on two criteria retained by case law:
The habitual and regular nature of the sales;
The lucrative nature of the activity.
These criteria remain subjective and at the discretion of the judiciary and depend on the damages at stake as well.
More simply:
If these are personal goods and your sales are occasional, then your income is not subject to social contributions or taxes.
If these are goods you bought or manufactured specifically to resell (e.g., antique trade, artisanal crafts...), it is a professional activity that must be declared. You must register this activity.
What penalties do you face for not registering under a professional status?
Sanctions can be of several kinds:
Commercial sanctions: In accordance with the prohibition of misleading commercial practices, you may face: two years' imprisonment and a fine up to €300,000 under Article L. 132-2 of the Consumer Code.
Administrative sanctions: Tax authorities may impose fines, late interest in case of failed declaration (even if you are not necessarily taxable).
Tax & social sanctions: Failure to declare income to URSSAF or the tax authorities exposes you to penalties up to 80% of undeclared amounts.
We also remind you that you undertake civil professional liability toward buyers in acts of sale considered professional.
We also reserve the right to suspend your transfer or even delete your Selency account in case of non-compliance with legal obligations after several warnings from us.
If you are in this situation, don't panic, you can regularize your situation at any time and we invite you to come into compliance as soon as possible if your activity becomes recurring and your revenues more significant. It is up to you to make this decision and we recommend consulting a professional for advice.
My Legal & Commercial Obligations
As a professional seller, you must:
Be registered and have a legal status (SIRET number);
Comply with social (URSSAF) & tax declaration obligations;
Declare all sales realized on Selency to social bodies (URSSAF) and to the tax administration (VAT, income/corporate tax depending on the chosen legal regime).
Be able to issue sales invoices to platform users: Selency being a marketplace without invoicing authority, we cannot issue an invoice in your name, especially when the buyer requires an invoice;
Obligation to inform about the nature of the products put up for sale governed by the consumer code.
What are my social/tax/accounting obligations as a professional seller?
As a professional seller, you must comply with declaration obligations. These depend on the nature of your activity and your legal regime.
Here is an overview (non-exhaustive) of your main obligations depending on your legal status:
You chose the auto-entrepreneur status:
Your social obligations:
You must register with the Social Security system for independents to obtain social protection.
You must pay social contributions, depending on your turnover.
NB: The amount of income to declare equals the total gross sales realized on the platform (including the commission) billed to the client, not the net turnover collected.
You cannot deduct the commission taken by the marketplace or delivery costs.
You will find an explicit article on this subject:
Selling on marketplaces: how-to (portail-autoentrepreneur.fr)
You must declare your turnover monthly or quarterly, according to your choice.
Your tax obligations:
You must declare and pay your taxes, notably:
Business Property Tax (CFE):
It is a tax on real estate assessed by your tax office based on the declared area of your workspace.
Income Tax (IR):
You are taxed within a category of income tax for BIC (industrial and commercial profits) corresponding to the professional income from your activity as a auto-entrepreneur.
Your revenues are < 176,200€ - You have a choice between two taxation modalities:
The micro regime with a lump-sum allowance (the simplest): you report your annual revenues with a 71% deduction, thus taxed on 29% of your turnover (rates applicable to buying-and-selling activities). The form for your declaration is 2042 C pro.
The real regime: you can deduct all your actual expenses from the revenues - you are taxed on the actual profit realized during the year. The tax form is the professional declaration 2031-SD.
Your revenues are > 176,200€ - You must be under the real taxation regime and taxed on your real profit.
VAT:
If your turnover in the previous year is < 85,000€: You are not liable for VAT.
This threshold applies to all forms of company (sole proprietorship, corporation, etc.).
In summary, if you have already exceeded or expect to exceed €85,000 in turnover you must charge VAT and declare (and pay) it to the state. (a tolerance threshold of €93,500 has been introduced). This threshold is easily reached if 100% of your activity is freelance.
You benefit from the base exemption regime, meaning you do not have to charge VAT on your sales invoices to buyers. The following phrase must be added to your invoices: “VAT not applicable, article 293 B of the French General Tax Code (CGI).”
Likewise, you cannot deduct VAT on your purchases (including Selency’s commission).
If your revenues in the previous year are > 85,000€ or your revenue in your first year of activity is > 93,500€: You are liable for VAT.
You must charge VAT and indicate it on your invoice to the buyer. You may also deduct VAT on all of your purchases if it is recoverable.
The difference between VAT collected on sales and deductible VAT on purchases will show either a VAT payable balance to the State or a VAT credit in your favor carried forward to the next month.
There are several VAT filing modalities:
If your turnover is between 25,000€ and 818,000€: Simplified VAT regime
Companies must pay two provisional half-year installment notices (form no. 3514) accompanied by an annual adjustment declaration once your financial year closes (form no. 3517-S, or CA12).
If your turnover is > 818,000€: Normal VAT regime
Declarations are monthly or quarterly (form 3310, CA3) and must be transmitted electronically in the month following the month or quarter concerned.
Special cases: VAT on margin regime
VAT on margin is a specific VAT regime applied in the sale of second-hand goods, artworks, collectibles, or antiques by VAT-registered traders who did not initially deduct VAT on the purchase of these goods. This regime allows VAT to be applied only on the margin realized on resale, not on the entire selling price.
Your VAT filing obligations: you must issue an invoice mentioning VAT on margin and include it in your VAT return. You must also keep detailed documentation of the purchase and sale of the item to prove the calculation of VAT on margin in case of a tax audit.
It is important to note that this VAT regime is governed by strict rules and you should check with the relevant tax authorities to know if you can apply for it and what obligations it entails.
We invite you to review this government summary on VAT taxation modalities for more precision:
https://www.impots.gouv.fr/professionnel/les-regimes-dimposition-la-tva
Your accounting obligations:
You must also maintain simplified accounting, recording your revenues and expenses in case of audit, but you are not obliged to file accounts as a company or prepare a balance sheet.
If you opted for a corporate legal status (SAS, SARL, etc.):
Your accounting obligations:
Unlike the auto-entrepreneur status, you are required to keep up-to-date accounting and file annual accounts (balance sheet, income statement, accounting notes) with the commercial court each year.
We recommend consulting an accounting firm to meet this obligation.
Your tax obligations:
As a company you are liable for the same taxes as auto-entrepreneur statuses.
The modalities of taxation for the main taxes are identical for CFE & VAT.
(see § CFE & VAT auto-entrepreneur status).
However, your profit taxation as a company is slightly different from the auto-entrepreneur status:
The company is subject to corporate tax (unlike auto-entrepreneur which is taxed in a professional category of income tax) on the company’s profit.
The declaration is made within the tax package and on the Cerfa 2058 form. The tax package must be sent to the administration.
For more detail, please consult this explanatory link:
https://www.economie.gouv.fr/entreprises/impot-societes-IS#
What are my obligations and Selency's obligations regarding invoicing?
Selency acts as a commission-based marketplace, which means it is your responsibility to invoice the buyer at the sale price paid by them on the site (including Selency’s commission and shipping costs billed to the buyer if you handle the shipment of the item - it is not necessary to display Selency's commission amount on your invoice).
Selency, on its side, invoices the buyer:
The shipping cost if it is carried out by Selency, Cocolis, or via a prepaid Colissimo label;
The amount of service fees in the cart paid by the buyer.
On the other side, we charge you:
The “seller” commission;
The turbo fees when you participate in the shipping costs.
We remind you of the mandatory items to be included on your invoice:
The invoice date;
Your name and address, as well as those of your client;
The invoice number;
The description of the goods sold;
The unit price excluding tax of the goods;
VAT (if applicable) and the corresponding VAT amount;
The total price including tax of the goods.
In summary, as a professional, you have legal, social, and tax obligations to respect. It is important to understand all these obligations and to comply to avoid sanctions or fines.
Do not hesitate to seek information from the competent bodies for more information on these obligations, and we strongly recommend consulting a competent accounting firm in the field.