Mf Business Licence And Patente Filing

---
name: mf-business-licence-and-patente-filing
description: "French Saint-Martin business licence reference for habitual independent professional activities, distinguishing the fixed and premises-area components from the separate patente contribution. Covers scope, selected statutory exemptions, area rounding, the component-specific cap, establishment creation, operator changes and filing/payment dates. Includes worked licence examples and flags differences between the official code and business handbook. Patente rates, additional chamber levies and subsidy eligibility are not presumed verified. This source-cited draft requires independent review, current amendment checks and activity-specific classification before use and does not establish comprehensive business-tax coverage."
license: "AGPL-3.0-or-later (code) / OpenAccountants Guide License v1.0 (content)"
metadata:
  source: openaccountants
  openaccountants_url: "https://www.openaccountants.com/skills/mf-business-licence-and-patente-filing"
  jurisdiction: "MF"
  tax_year: "2026"
  last_updated: "2026-11-01"
---

# French Saint-Martin: business licence and patente filing

## Scope

Article 1447-0 imposes the annual licence and patente contribution on habitual non-salaried professional activities in Saint-Martin. Bare-property letting without services is outside that charge; furnished/equipped letting or bare letting with services requires the separate analysis specified for each operator. [CGI article 1447-0, page 420](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

Article 1447-0A contains conditional exemptions, including farmers selling their own produce/animals, persons personally fishing, specified artists selling only their own art, qualifying associations and passenger transport by bus, coach or taxi. Record the precise qualifying activity; do not exempt all businesses described as agricultural, artistic or transport-related. [CGI article 1447-0A, pages 420–421](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

This Guide uses the official code consolidated through **5 June 2026**. Underlying deliberations remain authoritative; subsequent amendments and independent review are outstanding.

## Compute the licence components separately

Article 1447-0B sets an ordinary fixed component of **€300**, reduced to **€150** for itinerant traders and taxpayers trading retail exclusively on stalls/markets. The area component is **€5 per square metre above 40 m²**, using the statutory floor-area definition and reference period. A fractional square metre in total premises area is rounded down. The area component for the same taxpayer and activity is capped at **€2,500**. [CGI article 1447-0B, page 421](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

For a straightforward single-premises case with eligible area A, no exemption or start-up adjustment and the ordinary fixed fee:

**Licence = €300 + min(€2,500, €5 × max(floor(A) − 40, 0)).**

| Premises area | Area component | Licence before additional levies |
|---|---:|---:|
| 40 m² | €0 | €300 |
| 40.9 m² | €0 after rounding area down | €300 |
| 100 m² | 60 × €5 = €300 | €600 |
| 600 m² | €2,800 reduced to €2,500 cap | €2,800 |

These examples illustrate article 1447-0B only. They do not include patente or additional chamber levies. The official handbook's wording suggests an overall €2,500 cap, but the code explicitly caps the **area component**; the ordinary fixed component remains separate. Obtain reconciliation if an administrative assessment applies a different total. [CGI article 1447-0B](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

The normal reference is the preceding year or the last twelve-month accounting period closed in that year. Creation/operator-change rules modify it. Do not assume current floor area is automatically the correct reference-period area. [CGI articles 1447-0D and 1447-0H](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

## Creation, cessation and operator changes

For establishment creation, article 1447-0H(II) removes the area component and patente in the creation year; the fixed licence is **€0 conditional on the mandatory declaration**. This is not permission to omit filing. The following year's bases use first-year closing premises/assets and annualized receipts as specified there. [CGI article 1447-0H, page 423](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

An operator change effective **1 January** has an express exception: the new operator owes the €300 fixed component plus area and patente based on the predecessor's activity. Do not treat every takeover as a tax-free creation. For genuine cessation, the area component and patente have remaining-month relief subject to the article's restrictions; transfer or disposal of the activity is excluded from that relief. The fixed component remains annual for activity during any part of the year. [Same article](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

Article 1447-0J bis describes new-enterprise patente abatements of 100% in the following year and 50% in the second following year, with declaration and state-aid conditions. Its reference to Regulation 1407/2013 requires current aid-law reconciliation before claiming relief; this Guide does not treat the abatement as automatically available in 2026. Establishment creation and qualifying new-enterprise relief must be tested separately. [CGI article 1447-0J bis, page 425](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

## Filing and payment schedule

Article 1447-0K(I) requires the annual declaration **before 1 July**. Filing accompanies the full licence amount, half the patente contribution, the licence additional levy and half the patente additional levy. The patente and related additional-levy balance is due **30 November**. Rates and relief for these other amounts require a separate calculation. Retain the receipt and display the prescribed annual licence/patente notice as the article requires. [CGI article 1447-0K, page 425](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

For a start during the year, paragraph II says before 1 July if activity starts before 1 June, and within one month if it starts after 1 June. The quoted wording does not expressly allocate a start **on 1 June** to either limb; confirm the treatment with the authority rather than inventing a boundary rule. [Same article](https://www.impots-saint-martin.fr/files/file/News/CGI_SM_au_05_06_2026.pdf).

Use the official current digital filing procedure linked in the [TGCA Guide](mf-tgca-scope-and-compliance.md), with the appropriate DLCP form and tax reference. Maintain evidence of dates, activity, area, relief conditions and amounts paid.

## Self-checks and limitations

Confirm the activity's scope, who operates it, the reference-period premises, area rounding, component-specific cap and any creation/change conditions. Keep licence, patente and additional levies separately visible.

Source-cited draft awaiting independent source and professional review. Detailed patente valuation/rates, value-added ceilings and minimum charges, chamber levy rates, multi-premises allocation, state-aid eligibility and appeals remain outside the completed calculation scope. A licence calculation is not a total annual business-tax bill.

## Today's figures and who stands behind this skill

This file is an AI skill (tax rules your AI follows) from OpenAccountants, copied on 2026-11-01. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change. For the current version of this skill, its official sources and the named accountant (if any) who stands behind it, call `get_skill` with slug `mf-business-licence-and-patente-filing` on the OpenAccountants connector (https://www.openaccountants.com/connect), or read https://www.openaccountants.com/skills/mf-business-licence-and-patente-filing. If neither is available, confirm every figure against the official source pages cited above before relying on it.