Can an association sell products?

Yes: a loi 1901 association is allowed to sell products, provided that the sale serves its purpose and that any surplus is never passed on to its members. Beyond that principle, precise tax rules determine whether the income from these sales escapes commercial taxes, and consumer law imposes specific obligations as soon as you sell online.

This article explains both aspects. It does not replace advice tailored to your situation: to decide your specific case, contact your chartered accountant or the tax office your association depends on. For the practical management of your orders once the sale is made, read how to manage orders once sales are over.

The principle: selling is permitted, under conditions

An association may sell products or provide services without this activity automatically becoming profit-making in the eyes of the tax authorities, on two conditions: its management must remain non-profit, and its surpluses must serve its non-profit purpose or its future needs, without ever being distributed or invested to generate income.

If the selling activity resembles that of a business in the same sector, the tax authorities check whether the association is genuinely in competition with it, using a four-criteria method examined in decreasing order of importance: the Product offered, the Public targeted, the Price charged, and the Promotion carried out around the sale. An association is not considered a competitor if it meets a need poorly covered by the market, if it mainly addresses a public that justifies an advantageous price, if its prices are clearly lower than market prices, and if it avoids commercial-style advertising. The details of this method are explained in the official page on the taxation of an association's profit-making activities.

The exemption for ancillary profit-making activities

If the sale remains ancillary alongside a predominantly non-profit activity, an exemption from commercial taxes exempts the association from paying tax on this income, up to a certain amount. For 2026, this threshold is set at €81,051 of income per calendar year, not per accounting year.

Three cumulative conditions must be met to benefit:

• the association's management remains non-profit;
• the non-profit activities remain significantly predominant across all its activities;
• the income received during the calendar year from ancillary profit-making activities does not exceed €81,051.

This exemption applies in the same way to corporation tax, the territorial economic contribution and VAT. If one of these three conditions is no longer met, the association becomes taxable under the ordinary rules from 1 January of the year concerned. It is not necessary to keep separate accounts for the ancillary activity to benefit from this exemption.

The rule for exceptional events

Independently of this exemption, an association may also organise up to six charitable or support events per year, for its exclusive benefit: a cake sale, a loto, a raffle, a fête or a community car boot sale are common examples. The income from these six events is exempt from VAT, whatever the amount, even beyond the exemption threshold.

No application for exemption needs to be filed in advance, and the association does not have to systematically produce the details of its income and expenses for each event. However, it must be able to justify the amounts if the tax authorities ask it to. Beyond the sixth event of the year, subsequent income is taxable as an ordinary occasional sale.

Good to know: if one of your events includes a bar serving alcohol, the licence to sell drinks is still required, even if the event itself falls within the six exempt ones.

To organise these events in practice, read how to organise an association loto or how to organise an association car boot sale: the Donoor ticketing feature lets you sell cards, tickets or places in advance and on the day.

Selling online: what the law requires of your shop

By selling to individuals, your association becomes a "professional" within the meaning of the consumer code, even though it remains non-profit for tax purposes. This brings obligations towards your buyers, in particular a 14-day right of withdrawal to be stated and terms and conditions of sale to be presented to them before payment.

In Donoor, the Settings tab of your shop asks for your Terms and conditions of sale, in PDF form, with a mandatory consent box at the point of payment. If you do not have any yet, you can Read the suggested terms, a template prepared from your shop's information, which you adopt and remain free to replace at any time; this template follows French law and is only offered to associations based in France. You must also enter Your consumer mediator's contact details, which are mandatory to sell online. Without these two pieces of information, the shop cannot be published.

If your association is subject to VAT, for example because it exceeds the exemption threshold, each product can display VAT on this product, which shows "incl. VAT" to the buyer at the point of payment.

Important: buying a product from the shop never gives entitlement to a tax receipt, even if the association is authorised to issue them for donations. Only a voluntary donation that the buyer can add on top of their purchase, separately, is eligible for a tax receipt.

Key takeaways

• An association may sell products if its management is non-profit and the income serves its purpose, never being passed on to its members.
• Below €81,051 of income per year (2026), an ancillary sales activity escapes corporation tax, the territorial economic contribution and VAT.
• Up to six charitable or support events per year escape VAT, with no amount ceiling.
• Selling online makes your association a professional within the meaning of the consumer code: terms and conditions of sale and a mediator's contact details are mandatory.
• For your specific situation, ask your chartered accountant for advice: Donoor does not provide personalised tax advice.