entreprendre.service-public.fr: the new reference site to kickstart your business in France

996,000. That is exactly, according to data from the French National Institute of Statistics (INSEE in French), the number of companies and/or businesses that were created in 2021 in France, i.e. 17.4% more than in 2020, itself a record year with nearly 850,000 businesses created. To support this trend, the French government has been rolling out since early 2022 a plan to simplify online services for professionals, with the introduction of new tools designed to support young business creators with more practical, simpler and faster services.

A brand-new website adapted to all cases

As the Ministry of the Economy points out, “the quality of the information and guidance offered to businesses and the simplicity of public formalities are a major challenge in supporting and developing the economic backdrop”. However, some of this information and formalities are still “scattered over numerous public sites, sometimes dense, unknown or poorly referenced”. This is why the new entreprendre.service-public.fr website brings together, from reliable, up-to-date and free resources, all the information useful for creating, running and developing any economic activity on a daily basis.

This information is customised according to the company’s situation, insofar as the site very clearly provides information on all the key moments in the life of a company: creation, takeover, development, transmission, transfer, closure. The site also offers the users an easy access to additional services offered by the administration or operators. It also guides the entrepreneur to a local contact person depending on the stage in the life of the business. Simulators are also available: to calculate a price excluding or including tax, to assess income, to estimate social security contributions or to estimate the amount of any compensation.

It should be noted that the content of the entreprendre.service-public.fr website will continue to improve and be adapted according to user feedback. In a second phase, news and sectoral information will be added to the site.

Two other sites to simplify life for entrepreneurs

The creation of this new site, as specified by the Ministry of the Economy, is part of a more global plan to simplify online services dedicated to professionals. The entreprendre.service-public.fr site works in close conjunction with two other dedicated services:

- the formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr website is used to simplify and centralise the procedures for businesses. This website is operational since January 1^st, and centralises all the administrative formalities, digitalised, that professionals must complete. This new platform brings together all the procedures and processes for businesses in a single digital file, instead of several paper files. Thanks to digital technology, the time taken to process applications will also be shortened.

- the portalpro.gouv.fr website is used for declaring and paying tax and social security contributions. Planned for March 2022, this third site will simplify and standardise the declaration and payment procedures for professionals. It is designed as a tool for day-to-day management, and will make it possible to complete all tax, customs and social security procedures simply.

According to the Ministry, these tools are a “major effort to simplify the digital environment for businesses”, an effort carried out in collaboration with business creators and managers and all of the State’s partner administrations and organisations that “participate, every day, in the creation and development of French economic activity”.

To know more 

- business creation in France in 2021 (INSEE)

- presentation of the new digital tools to help entrepreneurs