Freelancing in Monaco: authorisation, RCI and what you actually pay

There is no freelancer sign-up in Monaco

This is the point that catches out almost everyone arriving from France, Italy or the UK: you do not register as self-employed in Monaco, you are authorised to be. There is no simplified regime, no online portal that lets you start trading the same afternoon, no micro-enterprise status. Until the Minister of State has issued the relevant title, carrying on an independent activity on Monegasque territory is unlawful.

What follows is the real sequence, in the order it happens, with the administrations that gate each stage. Budget one to three months, not an afternoon.

Authorisation or declaration: Law no. 1.144

The framework is Law no. 1.144 of 26 July 1991 on the exercise of certain economic and legal activities. It sets out two routes:

• Monegasque nationals file a declaration of activity, stating the intended activities, the start date and the premises. A receipt is issued within fifteen days; if it is not, it is deemed issued by operation of law.
• Foreign nationals — the large majority of the Principality's freelancers — need an authorisation to trade signed by the Minister of State. Applications are assessed within 45 days, extendable to 90 for complex files.

Either way, any change of activity, premises or holder requires a fresh application. And an activity left more than six months without being carried on, without legitimate reason, can have its title suspended: an authorisation is not an asset you park.

Applications go to the Direction du Développement Économique — formerly the Direction de l'Expansion Économique, renamed on 30 March 2023. The binding constraint in the file is neither your qualifications nor your business plan: it is Monegasque business premises, evidenced by a lease, a precarious occupation agreement or a domiciliation contract. See business domiciliation and office and business-centre options.

The six steps after approval in principle

Once the authorisation or receipt is in hand, registration proceeds administration by administration.

Step 2 carries an exception most guides miss: if your authorisation covers a professional activity of a civil or craft nature, or an administrative office, you are not required to register with the Répertoire du Commerce et de l'Industrie. A consultant, an architect or a freelance translator therefore moves straight from ministerial authorisation to the NIS. Commercial activities carried on in a personal name file a P1 form with the RCI; commercial agents fall under a separate special register.

The NIS issued by IMSEE is the number that identifies your activity economically. That number — together with the RCI number where one exists — is what belongs on your invoices. There is no SIRET in Monaco, and putting a French identifier on a Monegasque invoice is a common and easily spotted mistake.

The MonEntreprise portal centralises the forms and tracking for these steps; it does not replace them.

Contributions are flat amounts, not a percentage

This is the most widely misunderstood difference between Monegasque self-employment and its French equivalent. Your contributions are not proportional to your income.

Any individual authorised to carry on a non-salaried activity in their own name — craft, industrial, commercial or liberal — must join CAMTI (health) and CARTI (pension) within one month of starting. The same applies to the general partner of an SCS, the partners of an SNC and the managing partner of an SARL.

• CAMTI — an identical flat quarterly amount for everyone, set annually by ministerial order: €1,101 per quarter for 2025-2026. Membership takes effect from the start of the activity, even with no revenue at all.
• CARTI — four classes, earning 1 to 4 points per month. Since 1 October 2025: class 1: €550.08 · class 2: €1,100.16 · class 3: €1,650.24 · class 4: €2,200.32 per quarter. The CARTI point has been worth €17.584 since the same date.

The class is chosen between 1 October and 15 November each year, the contribution year running 1 October to 30 September. After the first year, class 1 is only open to freelancers whose average monthly professional income stays below €3,014. From age 55, you can only move up one class at a time.

In budget terms: a class 1 freelancer pays roughly €6,600 a year in compulsory contributions, a class 4 freelancer roughly €13,200 — whatever the turnover. On a modest income that is a heavy fixed charge; on a high income it becomes marginal. The employee scheme is quite different and is covered in Monaco social insurance and on the CCSS page.

Two gaps worth planning around: there is no unemployment insurance for Monegasque self-employed workers, and CAMTI does not cover occupational accidents the way an employee scheme would. Private income protection and professional indemnity cover are therefore a judgement call — see insurance in Monaco.

Tax: no income tax, but full French VAT

Monaco levies no personal income tax. The single exception comes from the Franco-Monegasque tax convention of 18 May 1963, which keeps French nationals within the French tax net unless they were resident before 1957. The general framework is set out in Monaco's tax system.

VAT, by contrast, applies in full. The same 1963 convention places the Principality inside the French VAT area, with identical rates — 20%, 10%, 5.5%, 2.1% — identical deduction mechanics and identical exemption thresholds. Registration and returns are handled locally by the Direction des Services Fiscaux, 57 rue Grimaldi. See VAT in Monaco and VAT registration.

The franchise en base thresholds are the French ones — €37,500 for services and €85,000 for goods, with upper tolerance thresholds of €41,250 and €93,500. These figures have been through successive reforms, postponed and then reworked, since 2025: confirm the threshold in force with the Direction des Services Fiscaux before building your invoicing around it.

Finally, business profits tax (ISB) at 25% targets industrial or commercial activities earning at least 25% of turnover outside Monaco, along with those whose income derives from patents, trademarks or literary and artistic property rights. A Monaco-based consultant billing mostly foreign clients falls squarely into that discussion — settle it with an accountant before you start, not after. See corporate taxation and the accounting firms guide.

What to weigh before committing

Premises drive everything. Without evidenced Monegasque business premises there is no file at all. That is the first cost to budget, ahead of contributions.

Fixed charges start on day one. The CAMTI flat rate and your CARTI class run from the start of the activity, revenue or not. Working capital covering two to three quarters of contributions is not excessive caution.

The title is personal and tied to the declared activity. Broadening your offer, moving your office or changing the nature of the work means going back to the DDE — see changing your company's activity.

If the project outgrows sole-trader form, the comparison with the SARL and SAM is covered in company formation in Monaco and company types compared.

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Sources: Law no. 1.144 of 26 July 1991 (Legimonaco); "Formalités d'enregistrement", Direction du Développement Économique, version of 18 November 2025 (monentreprise.gouv.mc); Caisses Sociales de Monaco — CARTI contribution classes at 1 October 2025 and the 2025-2026 CAMTI flat rate; CLEISS, Monaco's scheme for non-salaried workers; Princely Government portal. Last verified: September 2026.