TLDR: You must distinguish between two risks. Under certain tax treaties, the status of an independent agent may not be recognized if you act exclusively or almost exclusively for businesses that are closely related to you. For VAT purposes, you are not considered to be acting independently if your legal relationship creates links of subordination concerning working conditions, remuneration and the employer’s liability. The available sources do not make it possible to confirm professional, social or automatic consequences.
The risk under tax treaties
Under the tax treaties covered by the rules examined, the status of an independent agent may be disregarded when you act exclusively or almost exclusively for one or more businesses to which you are closely related. This rule is intended in particular to prevent purely formal arrangements designed to avoid being classified as a “permanent establishment”.
You must therefore distinguish between the classification under a tax treaty and the classification of your working relationship. The available sources do not present this treaty rule as a general reclassification as an employee.
Independence for VAT purposes
For VAT purposes, Article 256 A of the French General Tax Code excludes employees and persons linked by an employment contract or by another legal relationship creating links of subordination from independent activity.
The provision concerns subordination relating to working conditions, remuneration arrangements and the employer’s liability. It thus defines the scope of independence for VAT purposes, without establishing that every situation concerned automatically leads to reclassification or specifying professional or social consequences.
The scope of the presumption of independence
When your situation falls under the rule mentioned in the source, you are presumed to be self-employed if your working conditions are defined exclusively by you or by the contract concluded with your principal.
This is a rebuttable presumption. The available sources do not specify the elements that would make it possible to rebut it or the exact consequences of challenging it.
What the sources do not make it possible to conclude
The elements examined do not make it possible to assert that an activity carried out for a single client automatically leads to reclassification. The treaty rule concerns an activity carried out exclusively or almost exclusively for closely related businesses and does not establish a general rule based solely on the number of clients.
Nor can you infer from the available sources any precise consequences regarding employment law, social protection or penalties. They likewise provide no amounts, deadlines or procedures applicable following a possible reclassification.
Informational content, not personalized tax advice.