Self-employed status opens the door to numerous financial aid and support schemes. Detailed overview of the opportunities to seize to facilitate the launch of your activity.
Self-employed: Significant exemptions from charges in the first year
The most emblematic aid is ACREwhich allows you to benefit froma partial but substantial exemption from social charges during the first 12 months of activity. Concretely, the amount of contributions due is reduced and gradually increased over the period.
This temporary exemption offers a serious financial boost when starting up, with savings of up to several thousand euros depending on your activity. Enough to give you some breathing room during your first steps as an entrepreneur, by reducing your fixed costs.
To be eligible for ACRE, certain conditions must be met, such as:
- to have an annual income of less than €43,992,
- or not having benefited from this system in the last 3 years.
Financing solutions to boost your cash flow
Several options are available to you to quickly obtain additional liquidity to consolidate your cash flow:
- L’ARCE allows you to immediately receive 45% of the amount of your remaining unemployment insurance rights (ARE), in the form of capital that can be mobilized for your project.
- Loans suitable for self-employed people exist, whether professional microcredits, interest-free honorary loans or solidarity loans. The amounts generally range from a few thousand to several tens of thousands of euros.
- Agefiph even offers grants of up to €5,000 for business creators and disabled job seekers.
Tailor-made support to accompany you
Two major systems allow you to benefit from personalized support from specialists:
- PEARL offers follow-up which can last from 4 months to 3 years depending on your needs. A single point of contact helps you structure your project and maximize your chances of success.
- The CAPE offers constant support during the testing and launch phase of your business. Your advisor helps you ask yourself the right questions and anticipate difficulties.
This external support often proves valuable in successfully completing all stages of creation, and avoiding certain pitfalls.
Accumulating your status with social minimums is possible
One of the advantages of self-employed status is that it can in certain cases be combined with the benefit of social assistance, which secures the professional transition:
- ARE unemployment benefit can be partially combined with earned income.
- L’ASS (specific solidarity allowance) is fully cumulative during the first 3 months.
- And RSA can be partially accumulated if the resource conditions are respected.
- The same goes for the activity bonus.
Devices dedicated to disabled people
Self-employed people with disabilities can benefit from two specific types of assistance:
- L’AAH is fully cumulative with professional income during the first 6 months.
- The Agefiph offers financing solutions to meet various disability-related needs: human assistance, workstation adaptation, transport, etc.
Where can I find all the information on existing aid?
Many organizations can provide you with information on the various types of assistance available when creating your own business:
- Urssaf
- APCE
- CMA (chambers of trades and crafts)
- CCI (chambers of commerce and industry)
- The new one-stop shop since January 2023
The CCI information sites also list a lot of accessible help. Do not hesitate to inform yourself in detail to discover all the support possibilities available to you!
My name is Michael. I am a journalist for this magazine where I analyze and break down current events in order to provide you with articles that will allow you to have as nuanced and fair an understanding of global issues as possible. Passionate about creating bridges between stories and people, I joined this site to practice interactive journalism, where each article is an open dialogue with the reader.
