Buying a taxi licence (ADS): price, accounting and amortisation in 2026

Quick answer. A taxi licence, or parking authorisation (ADS), can only be bought if it was issued before 1 October 2014: those ADS are transferable for consideration. The purchase is often financed by a bank loan, recorded under account 205 (intangible asset) at its acquisition cost, and is not amortised, but may be subject to an impairment.

A driver setting up on their own almost always asks us the same thing: how much does a licence cost and how do you record it. Behind that simple question lies a trickier subject, because a purchased ADS is nothing like a vehicle or a piece of equipment. It is a specific intangible asset, governed by the Transport Code, and its accounting treatment shapes profit, the tax base and the resale value shown on the balance sheet. So it pays to set the framework before signing.

This is the first point we clarify, because it governs everything else. Since the Thévenoud Act (Act no. 2014-1104 of 1 October 2014, codified in article L3121-2 of the Transport Code), there are two ADS regimes with nothing in common in accounting and tax terms.

In practice: if you buy a licence, it is necessarily an old ADS, transferable, whose holder is entitled to present a successor for consideration. An ADS issued after that date cannot be sold: it is obtained free of charge from a waiting list at the municipality and remains attached to the person.

This distinction is not merely administrative. It changes your starting position. With an old ADS, you commit capital to acquire a right that will sit on your balance sheet. With a recent ADS obtained free of charge, you start without that asset, but also without that debt. The choice is not really yours in the short term: it depends on your rank on the municipality's waiting list and the delay you are prepared to accept.

There is no single price. The value of a transferable ADS depends on the municipality and the local market: a Paris licence, a regional metropolis licence and a small-town licence are not negotiated at the same levels at all. Competitive pressure from ride-hailing also weighs down values in some areas.

We therefore recommend never reasoning from a market price heard by word of mouth, but starting from the price actually agreed in the deed of transfer and recent local comparables. That acquisition price, and that price alone, will serve as the accounting basis.

In our files, three factors consistently explain the gap in value from one municipality to another:

• the density of local demand (airport area, station, tourism, medical clientele);
• the number of ADS in circulation relative to population and how easy it is to obtain one free of charge;
• the share of medical-insurance contracting in local turnover, which secures part of the fares.

If part of your business relies on patient transport, our article on the CPAM-contracted taxi and seated patient transport explains what this contracting concretely changes for your cash flow and your forecast.

An ADS is an intangible asset, not a vehicle: it is not financed like equipment. In the files we support, the purchase most often goes through a dedicated bank loan, sometimes backed by a pledge. Points we check upstream:

• repayment capacity against the forecast turnover from fares;
• consistency between the loan term and the operating horizon before retirement or resale;
• total cost (including interest) relative to the net margin per fare;
• the cash needed in parallel for the vehicle, equipment (meter, roof sign) and insurance.

The sequence we recommend to a driver preparing to set up comes down to a few steps:

1. Frame the forecast of fares and margin before even looking for a licence, to know what you can realistically repay.
2. Obtain recent local comparables to place the acquisition price within a credible range.
3. Build a financing plan that clearly separates the ADS, the vehicle and the equipment, as they do not follow the same amortisation periods.
4. Negotiate the loan with a term aligned with your operating horizon, not just with the lowest monthly payment.
5. Secure start-up cash for the first months, while fares ramp up.

The choice of legal structure directly affects the deductibility of interest and your remuneration. Our article on the legal status of taxi drivers and their taxation details the trade-offs between sole proprietorship and company.

This is the mistake we most often correct in files taken over. A purchased ADS is recorded as an intangible asset, under account 205, at its acquisition cost. The right to present a successor is, in its economics, akin to a goodwill.

As a result, in principle an ADS is not amortisable. Its useful life is not limited in time as long as the profession exists, which rules out a standard amortisation schedule. On the other hand, an impairment is possible and sometimes necessary if the licence's market value falls durably, for example under the effect of competitive pressure on the local market.

The two notions must therefore be strictly distinguished: amortising would mean spreading the cost over a limited period of use, which does not match the nature of the asset. For a specific file, the tax treatment of an intangible asset whose beneficial effects are, on the contrary, limited in time is assessed under article 39, 1, 2° of the French Tax Code (CGI): this is a case-by-case analysis that warrants a review of your actual situation.

Hayot Expertise tip. At acquisition, record in your file the detail of the price paid for the ADS, separate from the vehicle and the equipment. This breakdown, easy to establish at the outset, becomes very hard to reconstruct three years later, and it is what secures the amortisation period of each item.

A few situations fall outside the standard pattern and call for specific review:

• ADS contributed to a company. If you place the licence in a SASU or an EURL rather than operating it in your own name, the contribution in kind may require a valuation and triggers its own rules. The price retained commits the company's assets.
• Takeover with a vehicle and equipment. When the transfer includes the equipped vehicle, the overall price must be allocated between the ADS (account 205, not amortised) and tangible assets (amortised over their useful life). A missing or questionable allocation weakens the whole tax return.
• Later resale of the licence. The transfer of an ADS generates a professional capital gain whose regime depends on your status and holding period. It is best anticipated at purchase, as it affects your exit strategy.
• Moving from taxi to ride-hailing activity. If you plan to broaden your activity, the framework differs from that of a taxi. Our guide to becoming a VTC driver: card, register and capacity compares the two regimes.

In takeover files, the most frequent frictions concern not the price but the treatment of the asset:

• an ADS wrongly amortised, which distorts profit and the tax base;
• a lack of allocation between the ADS and the vehicle, which prevents correct amortisation of the equipment;
• a justified impairment that is never recognised, which keeps a value on the balance sheet disconnected from the market;
• a loan whose term exceeds the real operating horizon, weighing on cash flow at the end of a career;
• a failure to anticipate the resale capital gain, which comes as a surprise at the time of transfer.

A driver takes over a transferable ADS in a regional metropolis and finances it with a loan. We record it under account 205 at its acquisition cost, with no amortisation schedule. Three years later, with local values having clearly fallen, we examine with him the case for an impairment, not a retroactive amortisation, to reflect the loss of value in the accounts without distorting their reading.

This case sums up our view. The underestimated risk is not the purchase price: it is the accounting treatment. An ADS wrongly amortised distorts profit, the tax base and the resale value shown. Conversely, ignoring a justified impairment gives an overly optimistic balance sheet. We calibrate this treatment at acquisition, then review it at each year-end. If you are preparing to buy or take over a licence, our page dedicated to the accounting support for taxis and drivers sets out how we secure the operation, from financing through to year-end close, and our corporate tax support in Paris extends the topic on the taxation side.

• Check the ADS issue date (before or after 1 October 2014).
• Confirm that the transfer conditions are met (effective and continuous operation: 15 years, or 5 years since the first transfer).
• Obtain recent local comparables rather than a word-of-mouth price.
• Frame the financing (loan, term, repayment capacity).
• Allocate the overall price between the ADS and tangible assets in a takeover with a vehicle.
• Plan for recording under account 205, with no amortisation.
• Anticipate monitoring any impairment at each year-end.

If you are structuring your project from the outset, our company formation in Paris offering and our accounting expertise in Paris 8 cover the legal set-up and the ongoing accounts.