Auto-entrepreneur invoicing: the practical guide for private tutors in France

Scope note: this article covers the French auto-entrepreneur (micro-entrepreneur) status. If you tutor in another country, the fiscal and administrative framework will be different — use this as reference, not as a direct guide. All figures, thresholds and rules in this article are those in effect as of 2 April 2026. Regulations change regularly (finance laws, URSSAF reforms). Every situation is different — check the official sites linked in each section, and when in doubt, get support from an accountant or an approved management body.

Whether you teach 2 lessons a week or 20, the day a student or parent asks for an invoice, you want to produce it in 2 minutes — not spend the evening googling “mandatory fields auto-entrepreneur invoice”. Invoice number? VAT? URSSAF? It sounds complicated, but it’s simpler than you think.

If you’re registered as auto-entrepreneur (or micro-entrepreneur, which is the same thing), this guide covers everything you need to invoice correctly, step by step. If you teach at home and your clients pay you through CESU, invoicing works differently — we’ll cover that in a separate article soon.

Where to start

If you’re starting from scratch, here are the 3 steps:

1. Register your status on autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr — it’s free and takes 20 minutes
2. Copy the invoice template further down in this article and adapt it with your details
3. Declare your turnover every month or quarter on the same site

That’s it. The rest of the article goes deeper into each point — if you already do all this, skip straight to the sections that interest you.

The auto-entrepreneur status in 30 seconds

As an auto-entrepreneur, you invoice under your own name. No need to set up a company, no mandatory accountant, no annual financial statements. You declare your turnover every month or quarter to URSSAF, you pay your social contributions on it, and that’s all.

A few benchmarks for 2026 (source: URSSAF):

If you cross the VAT threshold, you’ll need to charge it — but with private lessons, you’re probably far from it. More on that below.

Mandatory fields on an invoice

This is where most tutors get stuck. A private-lesson invoice doesn’t need to be complicated, but it must contain certain legal information (source: Service-Public.fr). Here’s the full list:

Your information

• First and last name (or trading name if you have one)
• Address
• SIRET number
• The mention “EI” (Entreprise Individuelle, sole proprietorship) — mandatory since 2022

The client’s information

• First and last name of the student — or their legal representative if the student is a minor
• Address

The details of the service

• Invoice number (unique and sequential — e.g. 2026-01, 2026-02, 2026-03…)
• Invoice date
• Description of the service (e.g. “Private maths lessons — 4 one-hour sessions”)
• Unit price excluding VAT
• Quantity
• Total amount

The legal mentions

• “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI” (if you’re under the VAT exemption)
• Payment terms (e.g. “Payment on receipt” or “Payment within 30 days”)
• Accepted payment method (bank transfer, cash, etc.)

It looks like a lot on paper, but in practice an invoice fits on half a page.

Invoice example

Here’s what a typical invoice looks like for Kwame, a maths tutor:

Kwame Asante — EI
12 rue des Lilas, 69003 Lyon
SIRET: 123 456 789 00012

Billed to:
Mme Dubois
8 avenue Jean Jaurès, 69007 Lyon

Invoice no. 2026-03
Date: 15 April 2026

Description                              Qty    Unit price   Total
Maths lessons (1h)                        4      €35.00       €140.00

                                          Total:              €140.00

TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI
Payment on receipt by bank transfer.

Simple, readable, compliant. You can create this template once in a document (Word, Google Docs, whatever) and reuse it every month — just change the number, date, quantity and client.

Need a ready-to-fill template? Download our invoice template in Word format — just drop in your details.

Hourly rate or monthly package?

Both are legal. The choice depends on how you work:

Hourly — the most common for private lessons. You invoice the number of sessions delivered during the month. It’s transparent and easy to track.

Description: Private French lessons — 3 one-hour sessions Unit price: €40.00 — Total: €120.00

Monthly package — you offer a fixed rate for a set number of sessions. More predictable for everyone, but you have to handle missed sessions.

Description: Monthly package — 4 French lessons (1h) Unit price: €150.00 — Total: €150.00

The package works well when you have a clear cancellation policy (we covered this in our article on scheduling mistakes). Without one, it’s a minefield: “I was sick, I’m not paying for the session” — and there you are, negotiating.

When to invoice?

Frequency

Two classic options:

• Per session: you issue an invoice after each lesson. Clean but heavy if you have many students.
• Monthly: at the end of the month you invoice the total sessions delivered. Most common and most practical.

If you have 12 students and invoice per session, that’s potentially 40+ invoices a month. Monthly, that’s 12. Easy choice.

Numbering

Invoice numbers must be sequential and without gaps (source: Service-Public.fr). If your last invoice is 2026-12, the next is 2026-13. No going back, no skipped numbers.

The format is up to you as long as it’s consistent. A simple format: year followed by a number (2026-01, 2026-02…). You restart at 01 each year.

Cash payments

Yes, you can be paid in cash. But pay attention to the rules (source: Service-Public.fr):

• Above €1,000 between a professional and an individual: cash payment is forbidden
• Every cash payment must be invoiced like any other — same amount, same invoice, same declaration
• You must declare the cash received to URSSAF, exactly like a bank transfer

In practice, many students or parents pay cash for small amounts (a €30 or €40 lesson). That’s perfectly legal as long as you declare it. Not declaring is undeclared work — and URSSAF audits do happen, even for auto-entrepreneurs.

VAT: when does that change?

As long as your annual turnover stays below €36,800, you benefit from the VAT base exemption (source: economie.gouv.fr). Concretely:

• You don’t charge VAT — the price you quote is the final price (no VAT on top)
• You don’t recover it on your purchases either
• You must write “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI” on every invoice

If you exceed €36,800 in a calendar year, you’ll have to charge VAT (20%) from the first day of the month you cross the threshold. That means:

• Your invoices go from €40 to €48 (or you absorb the VAT and lose 20%)
• You have to remit the VAT collected to the Treasury
• You need an intra-community VAT number

With lessons at €35-50/hour, you’d need to teach between 700 and 1,000 hours a year to hit that threshold. If you’re there, well done — but get an accountant involved at that point.

Mistakes to avoid

Not invoicing at all

“I get paid by bank transfer, that’s fine.” No. Every service must be invoiced, even if no one asks for it. It’s a legal obligation, not a bonus.

Invoices without numbers or with gaps

The tax authority can ask to see all your invoices. If numbers skip (001, 002, 005…), you’ll be asked where invoices 003 and 004 went.

Forgetting to declare to URSSAF

You have until the deadline (monthly or quarterly) to declare your turnover. Miss it and you get a flat penalty. Declare zero when you’ve invoiced, and that’s a false declaration.

Confusing turnover with income

Your turnover is everything you collect. Your net income is what’s left after contributions (~21%) and possibly income tax. Don’t set your rates assuming 100% of what you invoice lands in your pocket.

Summary

The essentials boil down to 4 points:

1. Every service = one invoice — even if no one asks for it. It’s a legal obligation.
2. Mandatory fields: identity, SIRET, EI, sequential invoice number, VAT (or exemption mention), payment terms.
3. Invoice monthly: one recap per student, the most practical.
4. Declare everything to URSSAF: monthly or quarterly, no exception — including cash payments.

Once you have your template and your monthly routine, it takes 15 minutes a month for 10 students. Nothing to lose sleep over.