Magician, sole trader or intermittent: which status to choose?

That's it, you want to become a professional magician. You may still have a side job, or perhaps you're quitting everything to live solely from your art. But here's the thing, as you take the plunge into the deep end, a question gnaws at you: what status should I choose for my activity? Intermittent artist? Self-employed (micro-entreprise)? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these two statuses?

Are you overwhelmed and your internet searches tell you everything and its opposite? Don't panic, let's start from scratch to understand the issues!

PS: Feel free to also read our article on How to become a professional magician.

Why declare yourself as a professional magician?

If you're on this page, the idea of declaring yourself as a professional has at least crossed your mind, and that's a good thing! First, let's start with an important legal point: all work must be declared. Period. Otherwise, you risk a lot, and not just financially!

Although we've all been there, timidly starting to do our first magic tricks at family meals (and for that, no business is needed), formality becomes mandatory if you are employed by someone, especially if you are paid.

The first reason is that by declaring yourself, you will be liable for contributions, the same contributions that allow France to provide many people with access to healthcare, pay pensions, fund public buildings, roads, schools, and so on. Thus, declaring yourself helps contribute to the collective effort.

But if you don't do it out of conviction, the figures might dissuade you. Undeclared work (also known as black market work) is an offense under Article L8221-1 of the Labor Code. This article provides for a fine of up to 45,000 euros for the person working illegally, and up to 225,000 euros for the company employing that same person without declaring them. This penalty may or may not be linked to a prison sentence, or even prohibitions from engaging in certain professional activities in case of recidivism.

Another aspect that makes declaring yourself as a professional important is the protection granted to you. Indeed, when you are declared, you participate, as we have seen, in the collective effort, but this effort is two-way. It is also there to help you in case of trouble! If you fall ill and are unable to work or if you find yourself unemployed, contributions can in some cases get you out of this predicament.

Warning, as we will see, simply declaring yourself as a professional is not enough to automatically benefit from all of this.

Protecting yourself is important, but one might almost say that it's our own business. However, you risk serious trouble if the injured or harmed person is not you, but a third party! Imagine inadvertently injuring a spectator during your show (an accident happens quickly, especially with pyrotechnic effects used in magic), you would be very annoyed to have to pay the damages related to this accident yourself.

Finally, when you contribute, you pay the retirement of your elders, and the generation below you will pay for your retirement. This well-deserved retirement will be proportional to what you have declared as income at the end of the month.

So, if you want to enjoy your old age and live peacefully, it's better not to forget to declare your earnings…

So, which status should you choose?

When a magician wants to become professional, they must choose a legal status that corresponds to their activity. In France, several options are available: intermittent artist status, or creating a micro-entreprise. Each status has its advantages and disadvantages, and the choice depends on the type of services performed, the volume of activity, and the magician's personal needs, as we will now see.

Intermittent Artist Status

Intermittent artist status is a specific regime for artists and technicians in live performance, cinema, and audiovisuals. For a magician, this status is possible if they regularly work for entertainment companies (theaters, event agencies, audiovisual productions, etc.).

The advantages of this status are numerous:

✔️Access to unemployment insurance

The main advantage of intermittent status is the ability to receive unemployment benefits between two contracts, provided that the conditions for hours worked are met (507 hours in 12 months). Thus, if you reach your number of hours (we can also speak in cachets) in the year, you will receive corresponding compensation the following year. This system allows for greater financial stability, especially in a profession where contracts can be irregular.

✔️You can have multiple employers

Unless a contract explicitly states otherwise, it is possible for the magician to have multiple employers. You can therefore perfectly well be the magician for several event agencies at the same time without any problem.

✔️Sometimes it will be required

Sometimes, certain events will go through agencies to find a magician, and these same agencies will only work with magicians under intermittent artist status. In these cases, and if you want to work with them, you will have to declare yourself as an intermittent artist.

✔️No complex accounting management

Administratively, intermittent artist status is relatively simple to manage. You will essentially have to declare your earnings to your Pôle Emploi, but the management of social contributions and what follows from it is normally handled by your employer. It will therefore be up to them to make these declarations and administrative procedures.

✔️Advantageous social protection

As an intermittent artist, you fall under the general social security regime and are therefore affiliated with the health insurance fund of your place of residence. You are therefore entitled to benefits for sickness, maternity, disability, death, work accidents, and occupational diseases, provided that you meet the conditions for entitlement applicable to employees.

✔️Agency assistance

Generally, the intermittent artist will receive their contracts from an event agency. In these cases, the task of finding potential clients (i.e., prospecting) will be delegated to the agency itself. You will only need to perform your service and be paid for it. Obviously, this only works if you have your agency filling your entire calendar, which we wish you…

Here are the disadvantages of intermittent artist status:

❌Difficult access to status, especially at the beginning

Indeed, to obtain the status, you must complete 507 hours of work in 12 months. We generally speak of "cachets" to group 12-hour periods. Thus, you will need approximately 43 performances per year to ensure the maintenance of your benefits. This value is approximate, because if we go into detail, you can count more than one cachet per "performance", but it gives an idea of the work you will have to accomplish, and the contracts you will have to find in a year. Be sure to plan for "off-peak periods" that could put you at risk of not reaching the quota and therefore losing your rights.

❌You are dependent on your employer

An intermittent magician cannot directly invoice their services. They must be hired by a producer or agency that manages their contract and the associated administrative tasks. This can be restrictive for those who want to sell their services freely (close-up magic at corporate events, weddings, birthdays, etc.) since they must necessarily go through the agency, which, in addition to being an intermediary, will take a commission, which will inevitably lower your remuneration (or increase the price of the service paid by the client).

Micro-entrepreneur status

The micro-entrepreneur status (formerly auto-entrepreneur, so both terms refer to the same thing) allows a magician to offer their services freely and to invoice their services. It is one of the simplest and most sought-after statuses. At the end of June 2024, there were no less than 2.971 million active micro-enterprises in France (all sectors combined, and not just magicians, obviously!). The great freedom of this status and its ease of management give it a large number of advantages.

The advantages of a micro-entreprise:

✔️Great autonomy

The micro-entrepreneur retains their autonomy and does not need a structure like an event agency to be hired. They can thus directly approach restaurants, businesses, or individuals to offer their services.

✔️Administrative simplicity

In France, the micro-entrepreneur status is certainly one of the simplest there is. The creation of the company does not take long and the information requested is all very standard. Many online platforms (Shine, LegalPlace, ...) also offer to fully handle the registration formalities for a fee. This can be a good way to create your company without the hassle. The advantage of the micro-entreprise is also that it does not have share capital, which means that you do not have a minimum to inject into your company to launch it, unlike other statuses such as SAS, EURL for example (even if the capital requested in these cases is symbolic). In the same way, it will not be mandatory (at least initially) to have a dedicated professional bank account.

Finally, on a day-to-day basis, you will need to maintain a simple accounting ledger. As for monthly (or quarterly, depending on your choice) declarations, you will literally only have three boxes to fill out on the URSSAF website. That's all!

✔️Possibility to combine with a job or another status

An intermittent artist can also be a micro-entrepreneur to invoice services that do not fall under intermittent status (birthdays, weddings, training, sale of magic equipment, etc.). You are therefore not constrained by this status.

✔️Turnover thresholds adapted to independent artists

The turnover ceiling is set (in 2024) at 77,000 euros for service provision, which allows for good development without immediately changing tax regimes.

Disadvantages of the micro-entrepreneur status:

❌No unemployment insurance

By default, and unless you take out specific supplementary insurance, if you find yourself out of work, you will not receive unemployment benefits, unlike intermittent artists who receive them in exchange for their annual hours. You will therefore either have to ensure you have enough savings to cover any eventuality, or take out supplementary insurance.

❌Social charges and taxes on turnover

From the first euro earned in turnover, you will have to declare it, and you will have social contributions and tax to pay on this turnover. This means that you cannot deduct expenses or VAT* as a micro-entreprise. To give you an idea, social contributions are around 22% of your turnover for service provision, to which taxes must then be added.

* For the subject of VAT, there are thresholds in micro-enterprises, but that is not relevant here.

❌Less adapted to the entertainment world

We should rather say "status less adapted to large productions" such as theaters, television, etc. Indeed, these entities more easily hire intermittent artists than micro-entrepreneurs on an invoice basis (although this is obviously not a generality and nothing prevents them from doing so). The micro-entreprise is especially suitable for individuals or small structures that are not from the entertainment world, such as restaurants for example.

So finally, which status to choose?

What if we made a small table to summarize?

In summary:

If you work for theaters, TV productions, or festivals:

➡ Intermittent artist status is more advantageous because it allows you to be an employee and access unemployment benefits. It will often be required for this type of service. You will have virtually no administrative paperwork to manage, you will receive unemployment benefits on days you don't work, but you will have to complete your 507 hours per year.

If you offer private services (weddings, corporate events, restaurants):

➡ Micro-entrepreneur status is more suitable because it allows you to invoice freely.

Note: some magicians choose to combine both statuses: intermittent artist for shows and micro-entrepreneur for selling magic products or private services. This allows them to benefit from the advantages of both systems.

Please note, the information presented here is for informational purposes only. We recommend that you verify it yourself as it is subject to change.