The “job” of a business leader involves taking a certain number of fiscal decisions at any time. To avoid being surprised and to be able to dialogue with the administrations concerned, it is essential to know and understand the basic principles which govern corporate taxation and the accounting obligations which result from them.
Companies are subject, mainly, to three main types of taxation: the taxation of their profits, the territorial economic contribution and Sales tax.
Depending on the case, they may also be subject to certain additional taxes: tax on salaries, apprenticeship tax, tax on company vehicles, etc. Using the sales tax calculator is of great importance there.
Taxation of profits
When it comes to the taxation of profits, two concepts are frequently confused:
The type of tax: income tax (IR) or corporation tax (IS) , which depends on the legal structure chosen, and where applicable the options formulated by the directors,
The method of determining taxable profit: micro-enterprise regime, actual profit regime (for BICs) or controlled declaration (for BNCs), which depends on the one hand on the chosen legal structure, and secondly, the importance of the turnover likely to be achieved.
The accounting obligations of start-ups depend on the applicable profit determination method.
The main characteristic of the micro-enterprise regime (which only concerns individual enterprises) is that it is particularly simple:
Either the tax administration itself determines the taxable profit by applying to the annual turnover declared by the entrepreneur a flat-rate allowance representing professional expenses,
Either, on option and subject to income, the entrepreneur declares each month or quarters his turnover and pays the income tax corresponding to 1%, 1.7% or 2.2% of the turnover. Business excluding taxes, depending on the nature of the activity carried out. In both cases, the accounting obligations are reduced to a minimum: keeping a journal book detailing the receipts and an annual summary register presenting the details of the purchases.
The real profit regime (for industrial and commercial profits) or that of the controlled declaration (for non-commercial profits), confers on the business manager the responsibility of determining his taxable profit himself, in view of his income and of its actual expenses. He must therefore keep full accounts, which are more or less complex to implement depending on the size of the company.
The territorial economic contribution (CET)
This contribution replaces since January 1, 2010 the professional tax. It is composed:
- The business property tax (CFE), which incorporates a large part of the provisions of the old professional tax,
- And the contribution on the added value of companies (CVAE), which replaces the minimum contribution of professional tax.
This is a local tax, contributing to the financing of local communities, collected from the year following that of creation. Indeed, the CET is not due between the date of creation of the company and December 31 of that same year.
