Invoicing software for service providers

Any business offering services must keep accounts that comply with the requirements of its legal status. While the micro-entrepreneur (sole trader) regime benefits from simplified rules, the standards change as soon as the VAT exemption threshold is exceeded. Bookkeeping becomes even more complex when the sole trader has to change status because they have exceeded the revenue threshold. Invoicing software for service providers handles every one of these situations. It frees up your time so you can devote it to running your business, rather than losing it to administrative tasks.

Providing services as a sole trader

When you start out on your own providing services, the sole trader (micro-entrepreneur) status lets you get going without any investment and enjoy limited administrative formalities. Which body you’re affiliated with depends on the nature of your activity:

• craft-based: you must be registered with the trades register and affiliated with the Chamber of Trades and Crafts (CMA);
• professional (liberal): you fall under URSSAF;
• commercial: you must be registered with the Trade and Companies Register (RCS) held by the commercial court registries and affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).

Each month or quarter, you must declare your revenue and pay the related contributions. Day to day, you must invoice your services whenever they are provided to another business. If you work with private individuals, invoicing isn’t always mandatory and can be avoided under certain conditions. Indeed, you are not required to issue an invoice:

• for amounts below €25 including tax;
• if your client doesn’t require one;
• for remote services;
• for intra-community services exempt from VAT.

Invoicing and revenue declarations are handled by invoicing software for service providers. You save considerable time and are protected from oversights or errors.

If you’re just starting out as a sole trader, you quickly realize how many tasks fall on you day to day. At the same time, you come to appreciate the value of tools that save you time so you can focus on your core business activity.

The benefits of invoicing software for service providers

Invoicing software for service providers lets you invoice correctly and quickly, but it holds many other advantages. With software like Bizyness, you can centralize your entire accounting and include your expenses. Using tools to generate custom reports, you calculate your margins and analyze your figures to find ways to improve how your business runs. In addition, client and supplier records let you optimize your business management.

Bizyness calculates, on every invoice, the portion set aside for expenses (which naturally does not appear on the client’s invoice). This lets you anticipate your cash flow needs and teaches you not to confuse revenue with margin.

You have other tools available to optimize your working time. Simple settings let you automate certain tasks, such as sending invoices or following up with clients. Syncing with your business bank account helps you manage your cash flow and anticipate potential investments.

VAT management with invoicing software for service providers

Sole traders benefit from a VAT exemption. However, as soon as you exceed the threshold, you must charge and declare VAT. Without invoicing software for service providers, you’ll struggle to keep track and risk making mistakes, which the tax authorities do not tolerate.

As long as you don’t exceed the VAT exemption threshold set at €34,400 for services — with a tolerance up to €36,500 — you don’t need to worry about VAT and simply state at the bottom of your invoices: “VAT not applicable, article 293B of the French General Tax Code.”

Once your revenue exceeds €36,500 during the year, VAT must be charged starting from the first day of the month in which the threshold is exceeded. If your revenue falls between the exemption threshold (€34,400) and the increased threshold (€36,500) for two consecutive years, you must charge VAT starting January 1st of the year following those two years of exceeding the threshold.

Invoicing software for service providers automatically manages these elements and alerts you to any changes, so you never find yourself in breach with the tax authorities.

You then need to declare and remit to the state the VAT you have collected. If you work internationally, you must apply different rules depending on whether you work with countries within the European Union or outside it.

By definition, if you’re a sole trader, you’re on your own. You’ll quickly realize how much your bookkeeping becomes more complex once you have to account for VAT. Using invoicing software for service providers quickly becomes essential.

Moving on from sole trader status

The VAT exemption threshold is the first step you’ll climb. The second stage depends on exceeding the revenue cap applicable to the micro-entrepreneur regime.

Whether your services fall under craft, commercial or professional (liberal) activities, you are subject to a threshold of €72,600 in annual revenue. Once you exceed this limit for two consecutive years, you can no longer keep your sole trader status and must switch to another legal structure.

Whatever business structure you choose, simplified bookkeeping is over. You’ll be required to produce more numerous and more complex documents. You’ll also be subject to other charges, inevitably heavier ones.

Managing your accounting with accounting software for service providers

If you choose Bizyness invoicing software for service providers, the transfer of your accounting from sole trader status to your new status is handled automatically. You can therefore keep working without worrying about this administrative side of things.

You continue to use the same features, adapted to your new status. For example, you may make greater use of data exports. You customize them depending on who you’re dealing with: banker, accountant, business partner, future employee, and so on.

The advantage of invoicing software for service providers is that you can share access if you take on a partner. Since all data is stored in the cloud, you can access it from any computer. This saves you from having to rent storage space and worry about backups and updates.

You’re naturally fully compliant thanks to invoicing software for service providers and ready for any tax audit. Whatever your inspector asks for, you instantly access all the data and can’t be caught out.

Centralizing your accounting in professional software like Bizyness lets you manage your bookkeeping and business operations with peace of mind. You’re all the more available, physically and mentally, to focus on growing your business.