The actual-profit regime of the liberal professions

Nadia, a physiotherapist, collected 86 200 € in 2024 and then 91 400 € in 2025. Until now she filed under the micro-BNC regime, keeping nothing more than a list of receipts. On 1 January 2026, without asking for anything, her regime changed: she now owes a 2035 return. Before you read on: what switched, and on which year's figures?

A threshold assessed over two years

A liberal professional falls under the micro-BNC regime by default as long as receipts excluding VAT stay under a threshold. For 2026, the micro regime applies if turnover in 2025 or in 2024 did not exceed 83 600 €.

The switch to the controlled-declaration regime therefore does not happen on the first overrun. The threshold must have been exceeded in both preceding years, N-1 and N-2. The actual-profit regime then applies from 1 January of year N.

That is Nadia's position: above the threshold in 2024 and again in 2025, she falls under the controlled declaration for 2026. A single overrun followed by a year below the threshold would have kept her in the micro regime.

Entry can also be voluntary. Only a micro-entrepreneur in BNC has that faculty: they opt for the controlled declaration when their actual expenses exceed the flat 34 % allowance the micro regime applies to receipts.

• Receipts of both 2024 and 2025 above 83 600 €: the controlled declaration is mandatory from 1 January 2026 onwards.
• Only one of the two years above the threshold: the micro-BNC regime continues to apply throughout 2026.
• Receipts below the threshold but actual expenses higher than 34 % of them: the option for the controlled declaration deserves a calculation.
• A micro-entrepreneur in BNC: the only one able to change regime, by opting for the controlled declaration of their own accord.

Collected and paid: cash-basis accounting

A non-commercial profit is not an accounting profit in the sense used by trading companies. Taxable receipts are the sums actually collected during the tax year, or placed at the professional's disposal.

Symmetrically, expenses are deducted only when paid. A fee note issued in December and settled in January belongs to the following year; a December office rent paid in December belongs to the current year.

This logic requires a day-by-day register of receipts and expenses. The template ActioFin offers gives its structure: date, nature, amount collected, means of payment. That register is what feeds the 2035 at year end.

The practical consequence shows at year end. A professional who collects late may find two years of fees in a single tax year, or almost none at all; the bank statement, not the date of the service, decides where each amount belongs.

The option for accrued receivables

Article 93 A of the general tax code lets professionals under the controlled declaration opt to determine their profit from accrued receivables and incurred expenses, the way a trading business would.

The option is not free of formalities. The professional must provide a statement of receivables and debts every year. In the first year, that statement is drawn up at 31 December of the year before the option and attached to the 2035.

It mainly suits those whose collections lag far behind their activity, or who want an accounting view consistent with a company. For a practice whose patients pay at each session, cash basis is enough.