Tattoo artist: BIC or BNC? It is BNC, and it is not a choice

The question comes up at every tattoo artist's micro-entreprise registration in France, and it is badly framed. A tattoo artist falls under non-commercial profits, the BNC category. It is not a box to tick, it follows from the nature of the activity, set by the General Tax Code and detailed by the tax administration's doctrine. This article explains why, where the confusion with BIC comes from, what the classification changes in practice, and the one case where BIC genuinely enters the picture: selling goods alongside tattooing. For the whole tax side, VAT and contributions included, the tattoo artist tax guide remains the reference.

Why a tattoo artist falls under BNC

The starting point is article 92 of the Code général des impôts. It places in non-commercial profits the profits of liberal professions, of offices whose holders are not merchants, and of « all occupations, lucrative operations and sources of profit not attached to another category of profits or income ». BIC, industrial and commercial profits, cover the opposite: commercial, industrial and craft activities, buying to resell, transforming materials, operating material means.

The tax doctrine draws the line in the BOFiP, BOI-BNC-CHAMP-10-20. An activity moves to BIC when it stems more from speculation on the means deployed than from the practice of an art or a science, that is when the weight of invested capital, employed labour and material means outweighs personal skill. A tattoo artist sells a gesture, a drawing and working time on a client's skin. Nothing is bought for resale, no material is transformed for sale. The activity remains a personal service, which places it in BNC, within the family of non-regulated liberal professions.

So there is no choice. The category follows from what you do, not from a box you tick. What you do choose is the regime inside BNC: micro-BNC or the controlled declaration, a decision covered in the tax guide.

Where the « BIC or BNC » confusion comes from

Three sources keep the question alive.

Micro-entreprise vocabulary

The micro regime exists in two versions, micro-BIC and micro-BNC, with different ceilings and flat-rate deductions. Registration forms and simulators ask you to place yourself, and the wording suggests a preference to express. In reality the answer is already given by the nature of the activity: a tattooing service, therefore micro-BNC.

BIC service activities

Commercial service activities exist, taxed under BIC with a 50 % deduction. They concern activities of a commercial or craft nature. Tattooing is not one of them for the reason above: it is a liberal service, with a 34 % deduction.

Selling goods

This is the only case where BIC genuinely enters a tattoo artist's life. Selling flash prints, clothing, aftercare products or equipment is a sale of goods, therefore BIC. A tattoo artist who sells goods runs a mixed activity, covered below.

What the BNC classification changes in practice

Point	Rule for a tattoo artist under BNC	Source
Micro regime ceiling	€83,600 of receipts excluding VAT, assessed on calendar year N-1 or N-2.	service-public, sheet F23267, verified 13 May 2026
Flat-rate deduction	34 % of receipts, against 50 % for BIC services and 71 % for sales.	service-public, sheet F23267
Social contributions under micro	25.6 % of receipts, plus 0.2 % training levy.	Tax guide, 2026 rates with the URSSAF source
Real regime	Controlled declaration, result filed on form 2035, mandatory above the micro ceiling two years in a row.	Tax guide
VAT	Identical whatever the category: exemption up to €37,500, increased threshold €41,250.	Tax guide

Two practical consequences. First: the 34 % deduction is the least favourable of the three, which makes the switch to the real regime relevant earlier than under BIC when actual costs are high, a commercial lease for example. Second: receipts are declared in the BNC boxes of the supplementary return 2042-C-PRO, not in the BIC boxes. A wrong box does not change your category, it creates an inconsistency to correct.

APE code 96.09Z decides nothing

At registration, INSEE assigns tattoo artists the APE code 96.09Z, « Autres services personnels n.c.a. ». The official sub-class sheet explicitly lists « les activités des studios de tatouage et de perçage corporel ». This code serves public statistics and activity identification. It sets neither the tax category nor the social regime: a 96.09Z code can match BIC activities as well as BNC ones. The « tattoo artist APE code » question and the « BIC or BNC » question are two distinct questions with two independent answers.

The next nomenclature, NAF 2025, places tattoo and piercing studios in sub-class 96.99H, « Toutes les autres activités de service aux personnes n.c.a. ». The code change will change nothing about the tax classification.

Mixed activity: when selling goods adds to tattooing

If you sell prints, clothing or aftercare products on top of tattooing, you combine a BNC activity and a BIC activity. The service-public sheet « Micro-entrepreneur : peut-on cumuler plusieurs activités indépendantes ? », verified on 21 February 2026, sets the rule: each category of turnover receives the deduction that corresponds to it, so 71 % on sales and 34 % on tattooing, with bookkeeping that separates the two flows.

The micro regime ceilings are then read at two levels: overall turnover must not exceed €203,100, and the share relating to services must not exceed €83,600. Tattooing stays under BNC within that combination; it is the sales that bring the BIC share, not the other way round.

What remains on the craft side

Tattooing has no recognised craft status in France, and the profession has been asking for one for years without obtaining it. In practice, some studios were registered on the craft side depending on how the activity was declared at the one-stop shop, which the tax guide already notes. That registration does not turn tattooing into a BIC activity: the tax category depends on the nature of the activity under article 92 of the tax code and the BOFiP, not on the register of inscription. In case of doubt about an old registration, the situation is checked on the SIRENE status notice and with the business tax office.