Opening an optical store in France: diploma, legal structure, budget and first obligations

A qualified and registered optician (opticien-lunetier) must dispense corrective lenses and corrective contact lenses (French Public Health Code, articles L. 4362-1 and L. 4362-9). The founder need not be an optician if they employ one or partner with one. You choose between independence, a franchise or a cooperative, set up a commercial business, finance the stock and the third-party payment delay, and apply 20% VAT to glasses.

Yes, provided that a qualified and registered optician dispenses the corrective eyewear. The Public Health Code regulates that person:

• The qualification. The optician holds the BTS opticien-lunetier (higher technician certificate), the brevet professionnel d'opticien-lunetier or a qualification designated by ministerial order (articles L. 4362-1 and L. 4362-2); a European national may be granted an individual authorisation (article L. 4362-3).
• Registration. Before practising, the optician registers their qualification, free of charge, with the service designated by the minister responsible for health, in a single département (article L. 4362-1). The chapter of the Code devoted to opticians does not provide for registration with a professional order.
• Dispensing. "The dispensing of lenses correcting refractive errors and of corrective contact lenses is reserved to persons authorised to practise the profession of optician" (article L. 4362-9, our translation).

On the other hand, articles L. 4362-1 to L. 4362-12 in force lay down no rule on who holds the share capital or who manages the store. A founder without the diploma can therefore lead the project as a partner and manager, provided that every piece of corrective eyewear is dispensed by a registered optician, whether an employee or a partner; a network contract may be stricter. Illegal practice is punishable by one year's imprisonment and a fine of €15,000, with additional penalties, including closure of the establishment (article L. 4363-2).

Our reading. For a founder who is not an optician, the business depends on the optician hired or brought in as a partner: without one in the store, it sells non-prescription sunglasses and accessories, but not corrective lenses. The optician's hours and absences must be costed in the forecast from the start. Two practice rules also matter when setting up: the optician's badge, showing their surname, first name and professional title (article D. 4362-16), and, if the optician determines the refraction, a space with acoustic and visual privacy (article D. 4362-18).

The model is chosen before the premises: it sets your entry costs, your monthly charges and the documents to read before signing.

When a network makes its brand, trademark or trade name available to you in return for an exclusivity or quasi-exclusivity commitment, the information document and the draft contract must be handed to you at least twenty days before signature, or before the payment of a sum required before signature, for example to reserve an area (French Commercial Code, article L. 330-3).

Our advice. The entry fee is financed at the outset, while the royalties weigh on every month, including the first ones: compare networks on the profit and cash of a three-year forecast, not on the entry fee alone. The accounting treatment is covered in our article on a franchisee's entry fee and royalties.

Buying frames in order to resell them is a commercial act (French Commercial Code, article L. 110-1): when subject to income tax, the profits of an optical store fall under industrial and commercial profits, or BIC (French General Tax Code, article 34).

The professional practice company (société d'exercice libéral, SEL), which is sometimes suggested to opticians, is not an option: SELs for allied health professions cover seven professions (nurse, physiotherapist, chiropodist and podiatrist, speech therapist, orthoptist, dietitian, psychomotor therapist), and the optician is not one of them (Public Health Code, article R. 4381-8, as worded by decree no. 2025-1216 of 11 December 2025).

Our reading. Between an investor and an optician, the structure is chosen on governance more than on tax: the majority, the exit of the optician partner, the financing of a second store. The SAS leaves more room in the articles of association to organise this. As for the social security status of the manager, it changes the cost of their pay: it is a trade-off to be costed on your own project.

What about the micro-enterprise scheme? It is open to a sole proprietorship, and to an EURL whose sole member is an individual who manages it, as long as turnover excluding VAT does not exceed €203,100 for a sales activity; taxable profit is then turnover less 71% (article 50-0 of the CGI). For an optical store, we usually advise against it: the allowance ignores the stock, the fit-out works and the salaries actually paid, and a start-up year at a loss is still taxed.

We do not give an average: the budget is built on quotes, item by item, and this is the table that the bank will read.

The underestimated risk: the third-party payment delay. When the national health insurance and the complementary insurer pay their share after dispensing, part of the turnover becomes a receivable, while lenses and frames are paid to the supplier on the supplier's own due dates. The cash-flow plan must therefore separate, month by month, what the customer pays at the counter and what each payer settles later: this is the basis of a financial forecast and business plan that can be presented to a bank.

Accounting: stock and receivables from the first month

Like any trader, the store records its transactions in chronological order, carries out an inventory at least once every twelve months and draws up annual accounts (French Commercial Code, article L. 123-12). Two items need a method from the day the store opens: the frame inventory, model by model, with a rule for writing down collections that no longer sell, and third-party payment receivables, payer by payer. This tracking is part of the bookkeeping handled by a chartered accountant for opticians, alongside VAT and payroll; reimbursements are explained in our article on third-party payment and the 100% Santé scheme.

VAT: 20% on prescription glasses

In its list of appliances at the reduced rate, under the heading of ocular and facial prostheses, the BOFiP, the official guidance of the French tax administration, states: "Glasses (lenses and frames) or contact lenses do not fall under this heading and do not benefit from the reduced rate of 5.5%" (BOI-TVA-LIQ-30-10-50, § 70, our translation). Outside the VAT franchise scheme (franchise en base, article 293 B of the CGI), the till is set to 20% for lenses, frames and contact lenses from the very first day: a rate error is repeated on every sale.

From 1 January 2027, the simplified VAT regime disappears: the CA3 return becomes quarterly as long as turnover, plus taxable acquisitions, does not exceed €1,000,000 in the previous calendar year or €1,100,000 in the current year, and monthly above those amounts (Finance Act for 2025, article 38; see our article on the end of the simplified VAT regime).

CFE, e-invoicing and payroll

• CFE. The business property contribution (cotisation foncière des entreprises) is not due in the year the establishment is created, and the tax base is halved in the first year of taxation (article 1478 of the CGI). The initial return, form no. 1447-C-SD, is filed no later than 31 December of the year of creation (article 1477 of the CGI; service-public, fact sheet F23547).
• E-invoicing. Since 1 September 2026, every business must be able to receive electronic invoices through an approved platform; SMEs and micro-businesses will issue their own from 1 September 2027 for their business customers (impots.gouv.fr).
• Payroll. An optical store comes in principle under the collective agreement for retail optics (IDCC 1431). The pre-employment declaration (DPAE) is made before the employee starts, at the earliest eight days before the hire, and the single staff register is opened from the first employee (service-public, fact sheet F23107).

• The qualification of the optician who will dispense is registered, and their working hours cover the opening hours.
• The network's information document is received at least twenty days before signature and before any required payment.
• The works quotes include the refraction room if the test is carried out in the store.
• Form 1447-C-SD is ready for 31 December of the year of opening.

This article describes the rules in force on its update date and does not replace a review of your project and your contracts. The firm can review your forecast and prepare the set-up as part of a business set-up assignment.