In short. French personal services cover specified routine pet-care tasks for dependent people, including temporary dependency, while excluding grooming and veterinary treatment.
Definition: As of 17 October 2026, pet care and walking fall within French personal services, the domestic assistance scheme called services à la personne, when provided for dependent people. Eligible tasks include feeding, litter changes, brushing, walks and accompaniment to the vet; grooming and veterinary treatment are excluded.
Key facts
- The Direction générale des entreprises (DGE), the French business directorate, reserves this activity for dependent people in its personal-services activity list.
- The ministry's circular of 3 January 2025 includes dependency caused by a disabling chronic condition or a temporary condition preventing ordinary daily activities.
- The DGE's declaration guidance states that undeclared organisations and their clients cannot receive the scheme's tax and social benefits.
Which clients and animals qualify?
The ministry circular, in its section on pet care and walking, defines dependent people by their condition and its effect on daily life. It covers people with disabling chronic conditions and people temporarily affected by a condition that prevents them from carrying out ordinary daily activities. Temporary dependency therefore falls within the stated definition.
The same section restricts the activity to dependent people's companion animals. It expressly excludes farm animals. A general offer of pet sitting for owners away from home does not, by that description alone, establish the dependency required for this personal-services activity.
Which tasks are included, and where is the boundary?
The DGE's activity list names preparing and providing food, changing litter, brushing, walking and accompaniment to the veterinarian. These are the specific tasks listed under care and walking of companion animals for dependent people.
The same guidance lists brushing among the included tasks while expressly excluding grooming. It also includes accompaniment to the vet while excluding veterinary care. Taking an animal to its appointment and the treatment delivered there consequently have different treatment under this activity's scope.
What declaration applies to a provider?
The ministry circular places pet care and walking among activities outside the mandatory agrément, or approval, requirement and within the declaration scheme. It states that declaration is optional for carrying out these activities and essential for access to personal-services tax and social benefits.
The DGE's registration guidance identifies NOVA as the mandatory online service for submitting the declaration. It also requires quotations and invoices to mention registration of the declaration when the provider wishes clients to benefit from the scheme's tax and social advantages, together with any applicable approval or authorisation.
Related terms
- Which home-cleaning tasks fall within French personal services?
- Which handyman jobs fall within French personal services?
- What conditions belong beside a home-support company's tax-credit claim?
FAQ
Can I use this category if my dependency is temporary?
Yes. The ministry circular includes a temporary condition that prevents you from carrying out ordinary daily activities.
Can grooming or veterinary treatment be included?
Both are excluded by the DGE's activity list. Brushing and accompaniment to the veterinarian are among the included tasks.
Does an eligible task alone give access to the scheme's tax benefits?
For services supplied by an organisation, the DGE's declaration guidance requires the organisation to be declared for it and its clients to receive personal-services tax and social benefits.
Sources
- DGE, “Les 26 activités de services à la personne”, updated 21 September 2026
- Ministry of the Economy, “Activités de services à la personne : déclaration et agrément des organismes de services à la personne”, 3 January 2025
- DGE, “Organismes de services à la personne : comment demander une déclaration, un agrément ou une autorisation ?”, updated 18 December 2025
Check how a page reads to answer engines. Open the GEO score analyzer