The UPP and the reform of the VAT ceiling of 25,000 euros

What is the upper limit for basic VAT exemption? Or, to put it more simply, at what level of activity will I have to invoice and declare VAT this year? This is the thorny question facing the self-employed as a result of the unification of VAT thresholds for the self-employed.

As part of a 2025 budget that aims to reduce France's deficit to 5.4%, the 2025 finance law passed on February 3 standardized the various existing ceilings for all professions, proposing a single threshold of 25,000 euros. With such a reform, many photographers who have until now been VAT-exempt would be forced to pass on the VAT on their invoices or artistic income statements.

Faced with the mobilization of the intermediary bodies and professionals concerned, the implementation of this new single threshold was suspended, and on February 6 the government announced a consultation aimed at adjusting the reduction in the non-taxable amount.

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Some photographers (artist authors, artisans, microentrepreneurs) have long benefited from thresholds in line with the economy of their sector. The planned reform of the 2025 law would restrict their activities, which are already greatly threatened by other current events:

On the one hand, in economic terms

The addition of VAT to the invoices of authors whose activities are proposed by broadcasters who do not recover VAT:

- if passed on to their customers, would significantly increase the cost of their intervention, to the point of calling this one into question;

-if they don't pass it on, it will lead to a reduction in their remuneration in a context of already high job insecurity.

In administrative terms

An income of 25,000 euros is too low for the photographers concerned to consider having their VAT administered by a chartered accountant, as is the case for photographers whose income exceeds 50,000 euros (2025 ceiling on 2024 income). The administrative life of self-employed photographers is already complex; VAT management would add to their accounting burden.

The single threshold of 25,000 euros ignores the specific characteristics of photographers' businesses, would represent a burden for some and could considerably slow down their creation.

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The UPP is convinced of the relevance of the current situation, in which photographers can, if they so wish, be subject to VAT from the first euro of income, while remaining under the "basic exemption", if they so wish, up to an income threshold that allows them to call in an accountant. It therefore supports and militates in favor of maintaining the current exemption ceiling, which would not jeopardize the government's fiscal objectives and would allow the economic reality of authors to be taken into account.