Value sharing bonus
Do you want to set up a bonus within your company? The value-sharing bonus can be introduced since July 1, 2022!
Our summary note provides an update on the terms of payment and the legal regime of the premium
Preamble
The law of 16 August 2022 « on emergency measures for the protection of purchasing power » creates the value-sharing bonus (PPV) in place of the former « Macron » bonus or PEPA bonus introduced in 2019 and ending on 31 March 2022.
Thus, in times of inflation, the system is perpetuated in a new form. Let us take stock of the terms of payment and the legal regime of the premium in this explanatory note.
1. Beneficiaries
1.1 Employers concerned
This applies to employers governed by private law, public establishments of an industrial and commercial nature and public establishments of an administrative nature when they employ staff governed by private law.
1.2 Eligible employees
All employees holding an employment contract on the date of payment of the bonus or on the date of filing with the labour administration of the agreement/signature of the unilateral decision will be eligible for the value-sharing bonus.
Thus, employees and work-study students are therefore concerned. Temporary workers on assignment (made available to the user company) are also concerned in the same way as permanent employees of the user company.
2. Setting up
2.1 Formalism
To set up the bonus, the employer can use a collective agreement (company, group) or set up a unilateral decision. In the latter case, the CSE must be consulted beforehand if necessary.
It is the unilateral agreement or decision that will determine the amount of the bonus as well as the remuneration ceiling retained or the conditions for modulating the level of the bonus between employees.
2.2 Terms of payment
he valuesharing premium can be paid retroactively since July 1, 2022. It is possible to pay the premium in several installments (within the limit of 4 times annually).
The premium may be uniform or modulated. Thus, the elements of modulation concerning the beneficiaries are as follows:
- Remuneration (the employer cannot reserve the bonus for employees whose remuneration is above a certain level. Thus, a remuneration ceiling can be set, but not a minimum);
- Classification;
- Duration of physical presence during the past year;
- Hours of work provided for in the employment contract;
- Seniority in the company (new criterion).
Attention, maternity leave, adoption leave, paternity and childcare leave, parental education leave, leave for sick child, parental presence leave or absence of an employee who has benefited from an anonymous donation of rest days from another employee (seriously ill/deceased child) are treated as periods of actual presence.
NB: any criterion based on a discriminatory ground or other modulation is strictly prohibited by law.
Moreover, the principle of non-substitution still applies; in fact, the bonus cannot replace bonuses or salary increases provided for by agreement, contract or usage in force in the undertaking or elements of remuneration paid by the employer.
3. Ceilings and social/tax systems
3.1 Premium exemption ceilings
The amount of the premium must not exceed 3 000 EUR per beneficiary per calendar year in order to allow the exemptions to apply.
This ceiling may be increased to 6,000 EUR in certain limited cases (company required to set up participation and having a profit-sharing agreement on the date of payment of the bonus; companies not required to set up participation but having a participation or profit-sharing agreement in the same financial year as the payment of the bonus…).
The premium that exceeds the ceilings will be subject to social charges and income tax for the excess fraction.
3.2 Social and tax system
Value-sharing premiums give rise to exemption from social security contributions within the limits of the ceilings indicated above. To benefit from a total exemption, the premium must be paid between 1 July 2022 and 31 December 2023, but the remuneration must also be less than 3 times the annual value of the gross minimum wage. If the remuneration is equal to or greater than 3x the gross minimum wage, the exemptions will be different.
In this way, and for the first case, the premium will be exempt from:
- All employers’ and employees’ social contributions, including the CSG and CRDS.
- Income tax.
- “Forfait social” (different conditions in the case of a company with 250 or more employees if the threshold is exceeded and/or from1 1 January 2024 regardless of the employee’s remuneration).
NB: if the employer has paid for 2022 the exceptional purchasing power premium and the value-sharing premium, the total amount of exemption from income tax in respect of income for the year 2022 may not exceed 6000 euros.
Sources:
- Law No. 2022-1158 of 16 August 2022 « on emergency measures for the protection of purchasing power »
- Editions Francis Lefebvre Feuillet Rapide Social 16/22
- Legislative editions – Permanent monitoring
- Urssaf.fr and travail-emploi.gouv.fr
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This note contains summarized information. Please contact us for advice tailored to your situation. We cannot be held responsible for any misinterpretation.
Our employment law team is at your disposal to assist you in the drafting of the DUE or the company agreement setting up the exceptional purchasing power bonus.
Claire APPELGHEM
Head of Social Law and HR Department
claire.appelghem@groupe-aplitec.com
01 40 40 38 38