Do freelancers need a separate business bank account?

2 mins

June 03, 2019

By Raffi Sarkissian

This article was first published on Medium on November 27, 2017.

Business account: what are the requirements for freelancers?

Since the beginning of 2016 and France's Sapin 2 law, micro-entrepreneurs (micro-social regime for individual companies) must have a specific current account dedicated to their business activity. There is no obligation to open a business bank account - any account dedicated to the business activity will do the trick - but it has to be separated from the personal account. That said, there are many advantages to opening a specialist business bank account and finance management solution such as Qonto. Moreover, not all freelancers exist under the legal form of the Individual Company. Freelancers in the legal form of "limited company" (SASU and EURL, for example) will have to open a business bank account dedicated to their professional activity.

Should freelancers open a business bank account?

There is no right or wrong answer, since everything depends on your legal status and therefore on the regime under which your company operates. Here is a summary, according to the main types of schemes for freelancers:

Freelancers with an Individual Company legal status:

Micro-entrepreneurs (micro-social scheme, ex-entrepreneurs): you haveno obligation to open a dedicated business bank account. You will simply need to open another current account (personal bank account) dedicated to your activity and separate from your personal account. You can still open a business account to manage your accounting more easily.

Individual Entrepreneur with Limited Liability (EIRL): you must open a business bank account dedicated to the activity and separate from personal bank accounts. This is mandatory, more particularly to separate the liability between personal and business property;

Liberal professions: you have no obligation to open a business bank account. However, the current account used for your activity must be separate from your personal bank account. You can still open a business account to manage your accounting more easily.

Freelancers with share capital company (SASU, EURL) legal status:

All freelancers operating with a "Company with share capital" legal form must open a business bank account in the company's name. This requirement is valid for:

Simplified Single-Person Joint Stock Companies (SASU);
One-person Limited Liability Companies (EURL);

Why should freelancers open a business account?

We advise all freelancers to open a 100% online business account dedicated to their activity. At Qonto, we offer you:

The creation of an online account in 5 minutes. No need to go to the bank to open a personal bank account dedicated to your activity;

A Mastercard that can be configured online: change the PIN code, payment and withdrawal limits in a few clicks, on the web or on a mobile phone;

A French RIB to pay, be charged, and be paid easily in all circumstances.

Our tools ease accounting and business management: an "expense reports" feature with VAT calculation, dashboards and automated transaction classification will simplify the management of your business.

Helping freelancers anticipate cash flow.

Having a dedicated business account for a freelance activity simplifies accounting and improves the accuracy of your forecasts (cash flow, current expenses, deductions). As a self-employed worker, the accounts of micro-enterprises are scrutinized by government agencies. To avoid a tax increase, we recommend that you open an online current account in a business finance management solution dedicated to entrepreneurs, such as Qonto.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Raffi Sarkissian

Our Product Marketing Managers have one simple goal: to help our customers get the most out of Qonto’s many tools and features.