Accounting Fees in France 2026: Still Deductible, but the OGA Tax Credit Is Abolished

Yes. An accountant's fees remain a deductible business expense under the actual-profit regime, recorded in account 6226. What has been abolished is the income tax reduction under article 199 quater B of the French Tax Code, from the taxation of 2025 income onwards, together with the accreditation of the OGA management bodies themselves. The deduction of the expense is unchanged.

Important: this scheme has been abolished. The income tax credit for bookkeeping and approved management body (OGA) membership fees (CGI Article 199 quater B), equal to two-thirds of the costs and capped at EUR 915 per year, has been abolished by Article 11 of the Finance Act for 2025 (Law no. 2025-127 of 14 February 2025), with effect from the taxation of 2025 income. It last applied to 2024 income, declared in spring 2025. If you were preparing your return expecting this credit, it no longer exists: do not claim it or carry it onto your 2025 income tax.

The good news is that this abolition changes nothing essential for most self-employed individuals. What disappears is a credit applied against tax, not the deductibility of the expense. Hayot Expertise separates what changes from what remains true in 2026.

In one sentence: chartered accountant fees remain a deductible expense on the actual-cost regime; it is the OGA tax credit, and the OGA approval itself, that have been abolished.

Two mechanisms must be distinguished, and it is precisely the confusion between them that fuels anxiety around the reform.

The tax credit under Article 199 quater B was applied directly against the income tax due, euro for euro, equal to two-thirds of the bookkeeping and OGA membership costs, capped at EUR 915 per year. It is this credit that disappears from the taxation of 2025 income onwards.

The deduction of the expense is a different matter entirely: chartered accountant fees reduce taxable profit because they are a professional expense incurred in the interest of the business. This deduction remains fully in force on the actual-cost regime. You do not lose the right to deduct your accounting costs: you only lose the additional tax bonus that came on top.

Key point: stop claiming this credit (former boxes on form 2042 C PRO and the 2041 GQ notice). The deduction of the expense continues to apply normally on the actual-cost regime.

On the actual-cost regime, the deductibility of accounting fees does not depend on any incentive scheme. It flows from the general principle that expenses incurred in the interest of the business are deductible.

• BIC on the actual-cost regime: chartered accountant fees and bookkeeping costs deducted from the result, recorded in account 6226 (Honoraires) (and 622 more broadly for intermediaries' fees and professional fees).
• BNC under the declaration controlee (2035): the same costs deducted from professional receipts.
• Companies subject to corporate tax: the expense reduces the result subject to corporate income tax.
• Micro-entrepreneur: no deduction of actual costs. Profit is determined by a flat-rate allowance (71%, 50% or 34% depending on the activity), unchanged. Whether or not you pay an accountant has no impact on your taxable base under the micro regime.

The bookkeeping entry does not change in 2026: debit 6226 (fees) for the excl.-VAT amount, credit 401 (suppliers) or 512 (bank), with VAT on fees remaining recoverable for a VAT-registered professional.

The 2025 Finance Act does not stop at the tax credit. It abolishes the approval of management bodies: the centres de gestion agrees (CGA) for BIC taxpayers and the associations de gestion agrees (AGA) for BNC taxpayers.

In practice:

• These bodies may continue to operate as private structures, but they must amend their name to remove the word "agree" (approved) within one year.
• The fiscal visa and the statutory missions attached to approval (binding coherence and plausibility review, mission report) lose their tax basis.
• Above all, joining an OGA no longer provides any direct tax benefit: neither a tax credit, nor any exemption from any uplift.

A residual interest in support, prevention or sector statistics may remain with some of these structures, but it is now a freely chosen private service with no tax effect.

To gauge the true scope of the reform, it should be recalled that another part of the OGA regime had already disappeared before 2025.

Historically, actual-cost taxpayers who were not members of an OGA had their taxable profit uplifted by 25% for income tax purposes. This uplift was removed progressively, the coefficient being reduced to 1 from the taxation of 2023 income onwards.

The result: since 2023, there is no longer any penalty for non-membership. And since the taxation of 2025 income, there is no longer any tax benefit from membership. The tax regime for OGAs has therefore become entirely neutral, which the abolition of approval confirms.

Watch point: some self-employed individuals still believe they will be penalised if they do not join an OGA. This concern has had no basis since 2023 income. No uplift applies, and no membership is required to be taxed on your actual profit.

Until now, the OGA tax credit weighed, at the margin, on the choice between the micro and the actual-cost regime: it lowered the net cost of bookkeeping under the actual-cost regime. That incentive has gone. The choice is now decided on purely economic grounds.

The central question remains the same: do your actual expenses exceed the flat-rate allowance under the micro regime?

• Under the micro regime, your profit is determined by an allowance (71% sale of goods, 50% BIC services, 34% BNC). You deduct no actual expense, accounting fees included.
• Under the actual-cost regime, you deduct your real expenses: purchases, rent, wages, accountant fees, depreciation. If these expenses durably exceed the allowance, the actual-cost regime becomes more advantageous.

The actual-cost regime, in return, requires full bookkeeping and a tax return package, hence a higher management cost. It is precisely this cost, deductible but real, that must be weighed. The tipping point is assessed case by case, depending on the cost structure and the level of margin.

• Stop claiming the accounting fees tax credit: the former boxes on the 2042 C PRO and the 2041 GQ notice no longer apply to 2025 income.
• Continue deducting chartered accountant fees normally on the actual-cost regime (account 6226). Nothing to change in the bookkeeping.
• Do not join an OGA for tax reasons: there is no longer any benefit. Membership is now justified only by a genuinely useful support service.
• Check the name of any body you belong to: removal of the word "agree" is under way and has no effect on your tax position.
• Revisit the micro / actual-cost choice on purely economic grounds, without the old OGA bias.
• Do not request a fiscal visa expecting a tax effect: that effect no longer exists.

Consider a consultant on the BNC declaration controlee regime (2035), EUR 70,000 of receipts, with EUR 1,200 of chartered accountant fees in the year.

• Before the reform (2024 income): she deducted the EUR 1,200 from her professional receipts and benefited from a tax credit of 1,200 x 2/3 = EUR 800 applied against her income tax.
• From 2025 income onwards: she continues to deduct the EUR 1,200 from her receipts (the expense remains deductible), but the EUR 800 credit disappears. Her income tax rises by the same amount, all other things being equal.

Conversely, if this same professional were on the micro-BNC regime, nothing changes: she never deducted her actual costs, the 34% allowance applies as before, and she never had access to the credit.

This example shows that the impact of the reform is concentrated on self-employed individuals on the actual-cost regime who were OGA members or held a fiscal visa. For them, the net cost of bookkeeping rises slightly, without the deductible nature of the expense being called into question.

The credit / deduction confusion creates unfounded anxiety. Many self-employed individuals hear "abolition" and fear they can no longer deduct their accounting fees. That is wrong: the deduction of the expense remains. Only the additional tax bonus disappears.

The incentive to join an OGA no longer exists. In the files we take over, some self-employed individuals still pay an OGA fee out of habit, with no tax consideration in return. The real usefulness of such membership should be reassessed in light of the services actually provided.

The micro / actual-cost choice must be reassessed. The disappearance of the OGA incentive simplifies the reasoning: you now compare actual expenses against the flat-rate allowance, without bias. For some low-expense profiles, this may tip the balance towards the micro regime.

• No longer enter the accounting fees tax credit on your 2025 income tax return.
• Check that your chartered accountant fees are correctly recorded as an expense (account 6226) if you are on the actual-cost regime.
• Confirm your regime: under the micro regime, no deduction of actual costs, situation unchanged.
• Reassess the value of any OGA membership, now without tax effect.
• Redo the micro / actual-cost choice on economic grounds (actual expenses against the allowance).
• Keep your fee receipts: they remain useful to support the deductibility of the expense.

If you are wondering how this abolition affects your tax, or whether the actual-cost regime is still right for you, we can review your situation through tax support from a chartered accountant tailored to your circumstances.

Written by Samuel Hayot, chartered accountant (expert-comptable), Hayot Expertise, Paris. Up to date with the Finance Act for 2025 (Law no. 2025-127 of 14 February 2025, Article 11). This article is for information purposes only and does not replace a personalised review of your situation, your documents, and the legislation applicable at the time of your return.