2023-04-25 10:35:23
The statute of the auto-entrepreneur was conceived, in Tunisia, as a tool for the formalization of independent workers in the informal sector. It was introduced in 2020, following the promulgation of Decree Law No. 2020-33 and it was only with the 2023 finance law that the outlines of this new regime became clearer.
The question of the auto-entrepreneur was recently debated during a webinar which was organized by IACE under the theme “Who should benefit from the status of auto-entrepreneur?”, in which representatives of civil society and the administration took part. During this debate, it was a question of highlighting the contributions of this new regime but also the pitfalls of the law on the status of the auto-entrepreneur. According to the speakers, this new regime allows informal economic operators to free themselves from the administrative and financial barriers that prevent them from obtaining a license or creating a full-fledged business, and this, by having access to financial and social advantages. .
Informal self-employed, 17% of the working population
“The implementation phase of the auto-entrepreneur status is now finalized. The government has considered the next step, namely the establishment of the auto-entrepreneur platform which will allow the operators concerned to register for this new regime”, said Jihène Gaza, responsible for monitoring the government work.
Returning to the process of setting up the new status, the manager recalled that the project really started in 2016 at the initiative of civil society and was finally able to see the light of day in 2020, thanks to a decree-law which introduced for the first time the concept of the auto-entrepreneur.
On his side, Asma Ben Hassan, President of the Tunisian Institute for Inclusive Employment (Tili), pointed out that the auto-entrepreneur regime is a tool for migration from the informal economy to the formal economy. According to her, this is an alternative that allows self-employed workers in the informal sector (who represent more than 17% of the active population) to circumvent dissuasive administrative procedures and to escape the excessive cost of financing that the creation of a project can have. “Contrary to what the majority thinks, informal workers want to change their status. The auto-entrepreneur scheme can be a solution for integrating them into the formal sector since it will allow them to benefit from social security and escape the social stigma that weighs,” she added.
Why some professions are excluded?
Shadow on the board: the “freelancers” who exercise certain creative professions are excluded from the auto-entrepreneur scheme. This is what the president of the association of “freelancers” in the creative sectors deplores, who believes that this new status can solve some of the problems facing “freelancers”. Abundant in this sense, Mohamed Rahmani, head of the “auto-entrepreneur” project, pointed out that the auto-entrepreneur scheme can offer several advantages to “freelancers” given the digital and rapid process for granting the status (15 days), access to social coverage and the tax benefits from which he may benefit.
Referring to the importance of the auto-entrepreneur register which will soon be launched, Adel Chouari, Director General of the National Business Register (RNE), has indicated what this new regime should make it possible, among other things, to recognize new professions that are not yet classified in the nomenclature of activities.
For her part, Hanen Marzouk, director of the General Directorate of Tax Studies and Legislation at the Ministry of Finance, explained that the auto-entrepreneur regime concerns all sectors of activity with the exception of agriculture. and non-commercial occupations. Thus, any natural person exercising individually in one of these sectors of activity and whose annual turnover does not exceed 75 thousand dinars can benefit from this status for a maximum period of 7 years. According to the manager, this process of choosing the activities concerned by the auto-entrepreneur regime is part of the alignment between the new regime and the tax system in force.
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