Artist-author: taxation (tax return, VAT and CFE)

Verified 04 November 2025 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

As an artist-author, you receive artistic income associated with creation of works of the mind, whether in the field of writers, music composers, graphic and visual arts, cinema and audiovisual, photography, or even software.

Such income shall be reported either in non-commercial profits (NCB), or salaries and wages (TS). This statement will determine your tax system.

You have declared your activity as an artist-author. Thus, you are subject to theincome tax (IR) and must declare your income for tax purposes on the tax administration website, via your Personal Area.

Taxes: access to your space Private

Copyright is taxable in the category of salaries and wages when they are fully declared by third parties (e.g. publishers, producers, collective management organizations).

Please note

You can opt out of the Wages and Salaries Plan and report all your income to NCO. This option is valid for the year in which it is exercised and for the following 2 years.

The other artistic income the artist-author (e.g. sales of works, award of a prize, award of a scholarship, miscellaneous income) are taxable in the category of non-commercial profits (NCB).

Your tax system depends on your revenue (revenue) achieved in 2023 and reported in 2024 (threshold set at €77,700).

Turnover less than 77 700 €

You can choose one of the 2 tax systems following:

  • Micro-BNC regime : it is a simplified method of reporting, you only report your gross receipts (excluding VAT) and the tax administration calculates your taxable income by applying a abatement of 34% for professional expenses.
  • Regime of controlled reporting : this plan requires detailed accounting of your expenses and business income. Your taxable profit (or deficit) corresponds to the net profit realized during the calendar year taking into account actual income and expenses paid in the same year. This scheme is mandatory above €77,700 Excluding tax on receipts.
Turnover over 77 700 €

Above €77,700 Excluding tax on receipts per year, you are required to controlled reporting regime.

This plan requires detailed accounting of your expenses and business income. Your taxable profit (or deficit) corresponds to the net profit realized during the calendar year taking into account actual income and expenses paid in the same year.

Applicable VAT rates

The VAT rate to be applied varies depending on the nature of the transaction :

  • Sale of an original work by the author or his successors: 5.5%
  • Assignment of copyright (right of representation, reproduction, adaptation, exploitation and interpretation): 10%
  • For all other operations : 20%

The creation aid or grants paid by various public or private bodies are exempt from VAT. Thus, the VAT rate is 0% unless the consideration is a supply of goods or services or is complementary to the price of a taxable transaction.

VAT rates for miscellaneous income depend on the service concerned. For example, when they are paid directly by students, course given in the studio or studio of the artist-author and the workshops of artistic practices or writing, are exempt from VAT.

Exemption based on VAT

The exemption from VAT you exempt from VAT declaration and payment on your artistic recipes (copyright, sales of works...).

Please note

A single exemption threshold based on VAT of €25,000 was envisaged by the 2025 budget law. This threshold, whose application had remained suspended, was finally abandoned by the law no. 2025-1044 of november 3, 2025. The VAT-based exemption thresholds therefore remained unchanged.

Your right to benefit depends on the turnover (CA) from your artistic activities in the previous year (N-1):

Turnover less than €50,000

You benefit from a exemption from VAT on your artistic recipes. In this context, you must deliver your duty-free invoices to your customers with the words “ VAT not applicable – Article 293 B of the CGI ».

However, if your current year revenue (N) exceeds " tolerance threshold ’ fixed at €55,000, you no longer benefit from the VAT exemption from 1er day of month of overshoot.

Turnover over 50 000 €

When you cross the threshold €50,000 in a given year, you no longer benefit from the exemption based on VAT from 1er January of the following year.

In addition, if your current year revenue (N) exceeds " tolerance threshold ’ fixed at €55,000, you no longer benefit from the VAT exemption from 1er day of month of overshoot.

The withdrawal from the VAT exemption scheme has the following effects:

  • Submission to VAT of transactions carried out on or after 1er the day of the month of the overshoot. So you have to declare the VAT and charge it to your customers. Invoices issued in the overrun month, before the overrun day, must be corrected to include VAT. For example, a contractor exceeds the VAT threshold on December 15. He must then charge VAT in December. If it has already issued invoices between 1er and on December 15 without VAT, he must amend them to add VAT.
  • You are now entitled to deduction of VAT on your professional purchases. You can ask the tax authorities to deduct the VAT paid on your business purchases at the time of your VAT return on 1er month overrun.
  • You must apply for Intra-Community VAT number and indicate it on your invoices. To obtain your intra-community VAT number, you must contact your company tax department (SIE) on your business account on the site impots.gouv.fr and inform it of your departure from the VAT exemption system:

Online tax account for professionals (EFI mode)

Please note

For income from ancillary activities (workshops, courses, public meetings), you benefit from the VAT exemption when your turnover of the previous year (N-1) does not exceed €35,000 and if it does not exceed €38,500 for the current year.

Option for VAT payment

Whatever the amount of your annual turnover (even less than €50,000), you can opting for VAT payment and charge your customers. This allows you to recover deductible VAT on professional expenditure.

The request for an option must be made in writing to the company tax service (SIE) you depend on.

Who shall I contact

The option takes effect to 1er day the month in which it is declared.

The option must cover a period 2 years renewable (including the application). Thus, an option formulated on 1er November of year N will produce its effects until 31 December N+1.

Withholding tax on certain copyright

The VAT withholding tax system will help you exemption from VAT declaration when you collect copyrights from publishers, producers or collective management organizations (Adagp: titleContent, SAIF: titleContent, Sacem: titleContentetc.).

The broadcaster declares and pays the VAT for your account and then withholds the VAT paid on the copyrights it pays you.

This exemption applies both to artists-authors eligible for the basic exemption and to artists-authors liable for VAT.

FYI  

Where copyright is paid by a publisher, the withholding tax shall apply only in respect of the copyright paid in the context of a publishing contract. Therefore, if you charge a publisher (i.e. outside of a publishing contract) for copyright, it is up to you to declare and pay VAT to taxes, there is no withholding tax.

General case

This deduction is equal to the amount of VAT calculated at the legally applicable rate on copyrights (10%) less a right to deduct fixed at a flat rate at 0.80%, or a net withholding of 9.20%.

Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion

This deduction is equal to the amount of VAT calculated at the legally applicable rate on copyrights (10%) less a right to deduct fixed at a flat rate at 0.40%, or a net withholding of 9.60%.

You can abandoning the withholding tax system, at any time. In this case, you pay and declare the VAT to the taxes yourself.

The waiver must be formulated in writing and sent by registered letter to company Tax Service (SIE)). You must then immediately send a copy of the waiver sent to the tax department to all publishers, duty collection and allocation businesses and producers whose duties you collect or are intended to collect.

This waiver applies for a period of 5 years.

Who shall I contact

The company property assessment (CFE) is a local tax payable by professionals who habitually carry out a self-employed professional activity in 1er January of the taxation year, whatever their legal status, activity or taxation regime.

The following artist-authors are exempt :

  • Painters, sculptors, engravers and draftsmen considered as artists who create graphic and plastic works and sell only the product of their art. This includes graphic designers provided that their activity is limited to the creation of graphic works. On the contrary, it excludes graphic designers who perform work based on models provided by third parties, or operate an establishment in which industrial work is predominant and secondary artistic work.
  • Art photographers for their activity relating to the taking of photographs, the transfer of their works of art and the transfer of their property rights relating to their photographic works
  • Authors of literary and dramatic, musical and choreographic works, as well as co-authors of a collaborative audiovisual work and authors of a radio work
  • Lyrical and dramatic artists

On the other hand, software authors cannot benefit of that exemption.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • Company Tax Service (SIE)

  • Social security for artists-authors (Agessa and Maison des artistes)

    By phone

    Monday to Friday: from 9am to 5pm

    0 806 804 208 (price of a local call)

    By courier

    http://www.secu-artistes-auteurs.fr/contact

    By mail

    60 rue du Faubourg Poissonnière

    75010 Paris

  • Urssaf Limousin (Artists-authors)

    By mail (email)

    https://www.artistes-auteurs.urssaf.fr/aa/accueil

    By mail

    Urssaf Limousin

    Artists-authors center - TSA 70009

    93517 MONTREUIL CEDEX