ACRE allows certain entrepreneurs to benefit from a partial exemption from social charges and support during the first years of activity.
Many aids are offered to unemployed business creators. ACRE is one of them, as are ARE, ARCE and NACRE. How to tell them apart? What does Assistance to Business Creators and Buyers actually consist of? All the explanations.
ACRE (formerly ACCRE) is a scheme for the exemption and reduction of social security contributions at the start of activity. This aid can be combined, under certain conditions, with ARCE or allowances for unemployed business creators.
In addition to ACRE, job seekers who wish to create or take over a business have access to several aids:
More commonly known as the "unemployment allowance", the ARE results in the payment of a replacement income by Pôle Emploi to people registered as jobseekers and involuntarily deprived of employment. Job seekers who plan to create or take over a business can request to benefit from it subject to:fulfilling the conditions for granting the ARE, maintaining their registration with Pôle Emploi as job seekers, not having already perceived.
The ARCE is an aid paid by Pôle Emploi and which consists of receiving unemployment benefits in the form of capital. Its amount corresponds to 45% of the amount of ARE rights remaining to be paid at the start of the activity. The ARCE can be applied for by unemployed people benefiting from ARE who create or take over a business, by unemployed people authorized to benefit from ARE but who do not yet receive it, by people made redundant who are beginning their steps to create or take over a business during their notice period. In any case, to qualify for the ARCE, it is imperative to have obtained the ACRE.
People who are unemployed or encountering difficulties in finding employment can be supported to start up, finance and develop their company. To find an organization likely to offer them a support contract, they should contact their Regional Council.
After specifying the differences between the main aid offered to job seekers who wish to set up their own business, it is appropriate to come back to the ACRE and the conditions for obtaining it.
Generalized to the 1 st January 2019, the new ACRE system targets a wider audience than the old one. Indeed, since that date, even entrepreneurs who are not registered with Pôle Emploi can claim it.
Concretely, the beneficiaries of the ACRE are self-employed entrepreneurs placed under the micro-social regime and who belong to one of the following categories:
The beneficiaries of the ACRE must actually exercise control of the company created or taken over. If it is a company, the beneficiary is considered to have effective control if it is in one of these situations:
The exemption offered under the ACRE covers contributions corresponding to health, maternity, disability and death insurance, family benefits and basic old-age insurance. It does not concern contributions relating to the CSG-CRDS, the risk of industrial accident, supplementary pension, continuing vocational training and transport payment.
The exemption is total when the applicant's income is less than 30,852 euros (2020). It becomes degressive when income is between 30,852 euros and 41,136 euros. Beyond that, there is no possible exemption from social security contributions.
The duration of the exemption is 12 months. This period starts from the beginning of the company's activity for employees, from the effective date of affiliation for non-employees.
People compensated by Pôle Emploi and who obtain the ACRE are entitled, under certain conditions, to the temporary maintenance of the income received before the creation. They will also be able to claim payment of part of their unemployment benefits in the form of capital.
Finally, the ACRE can be combined with the NACRE as part of assistance with setting up, financial structuring and starting up the activity.
To benefit from the Aid for Business Creators and Buyers, a request must be sent to URSSAF when filing the creation or takeover file, or at the latest, within 45 days of this filing. Applicants who do not work as self-employed persons under the micro-enterprise scheme do not have to complete any formalities to benefit from ACRE. This aid will be paid to them automatically.
Thus, the ACRE allows its beneficiaries to benefit from several advantages:exemption from social charges for 1 year, the possibility of obtaining a loan at zero interest, financial participation from the State in the event of follow-up of training or support, maintenance of social minima during the first months of activity (between 3 and 6 months depending on the allowance).
