This was a strong expectation of some three million French self-employed workers: Parliament definitively adopted, on Tuesday 8 February, a bill aimed at “better protect them” and to “make their life easier”.
The compromise text, which was reached by deputies and senators in a mixed parity committee, was voted on during the day by the Senate unanimously of the votes cast, then, in the evening, by the National Assembly also unanimously. expressed. In both chambers the left abstained, judging the text ” insufficient “.
The bill creates a unique status for the self-employed – craftsmen, traders, liberal professionals, etc. – which makes a distinction between their professional assets and their personal assets. Personal property will now by default be unseizable in the event of bankruptcy, whereas today only the principal residence is protected.
This measure, which derogates from the legal principle of the uniqueness of heritage, was a long-standing request from these workers, whose activity by nature faces significant risks, brutally brought to light by the Covid-19 health crisis. . It will enter into force three months after the promulgation of the law.
Vigilance with regard to banks
The rapporteur at the Palais-Bourbon, Marie-Christine Verdier-Jouclas (La République en Marche, Tarn), was pleased to see the outcome “a text awaited by three million entrepreneurs”. “Nevertheless, we should not expect miracles, because the most important creditors, in particular the banks, will continue to require special securities on certain assets of the entrepreneur, including his personal assets”however warned the rapporteur of the text in the Senate Christophe-André Frassa (Les Républicains, French established outside France). “We will expect banking establishments to take full responsibility in the implementation of this reform, we will be very vigilant (…) »promised the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.
The attitude of the banks is also “a point of vigilance” pointed out by the secretary general of the Union of Independents (SDI), Marc Sanchez, who praised in the bill “a decisive leap for the improvement of the status of individual entrepreneurs as well as their social and fiscal situations”.
The bill constitutes ” angular stone “ of the plan for self-employed workers announced by President Emmanuel Macron on September 16, 2021, according to Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. It is articulated with a budgetary component voted at the end of the year, to facilitate the sale of companies, too few in France when an entrepreneur retires, thanks to exemptions from taxation of capital gains .
An allowance in the event of cessation of activity
Another flagship measure of the text: the conditions of access to the allowance for self-employed workers (ATI), considered too restrictive, are extended to any total and definitive cessation of activity which is not economically viable. “To estimate if the activity is not viable, we will look at whether there is a drop in income of at least 30%”said Mr. Lemoyne.
Unlike employees, the self-employed cannot indeed receive unemployment. Since 2019, they can benefit from the ATI, a lump sum of 800 euros per month for a maximum period of six months, but only in the event of liquidation or recovery.
The reform also plans to double the tax credit for the training of managers of companies with less than ten employees and aims to reduce by 30% the price of optional insurance AT-MP (accidents at work-occupational diseases) .
According to a study just published by the Association for the Right to Economic Initiative (ADIE), carried out in the fall of 2021 by OpinionWay among 1,149 independent entrepreneurs, 93% of them consider ” urgent “ to align their social rights with those of employees. About 59% want unemployment rights as a priority and 49% want above all better coverage of occupational risks.
At the end of January, the government announced additional financial aid for certain categories of self-employed workers affected by the health crisis.
The bill was initially carried by Alain Griset, then minister in charge of small and medium-sized enterprises; but he had resigned in December 2021 after being convicted for an incomplete declaration of his assets. Mr. Griset, who, before becoming a minister, had exercised the profession of taxi driver for more than thirty years, will also answer, on May 25, before the Lille criminal court, for “breach of trust” at the expense of the National Confederation of Trades and Services (Cnams) of the North.