What a SASU president’s salary really costs
A French company president is paid like an executive employee, minus unemployment insurance. Here is what each contribution takes.
Figures checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Charges on the president’s salary
Monthly net before tax
€2,370
| Total cost to the company | €4,204 |
| Employer contributions | €1,204 |
| Employee contributions and CSG-CRDS | €630 |
| Net / total cost | 56.4 % |
If you run a SASU (société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle, a one-shareholder simplified company) and pay yourself €3,000 gross a month, the company spends €4,204 a month and you receive €2,370 net before income tax, using the 2026 private-sector rates published by the Urssaf, the body that collects French social contributions. Of that total cost, 43.6 % goes on contributions: €1,204 on the employer side, €339 on the employee side and €290 of CSG-CRDS, two social levies charged on top of contributions. The reason is your status. As a company officer you join the régime général, the employee social security scheme: health insurance at 13 % paid by the company, old-age pension, family benefits and Agirc-Arrco supplementary pension, but no unemployment insurance and no AGS wage-guarantee levy, since you have no employment contract. The general reduction in employer contributions, meant for employees, does not apply either. Net pay of €2,000 a month needs €2,531 gross.
The 2026 rates on a president’s salary
A SASU president has no employment contract: legally you are a mandataire social, a company officer. Social security nevertheless places you in the employee scheme, so your pay bears the 2026 private-sector rates published by the Urssaf. Two lines from a normal French payslip are missing: unemployment insurance and the AGS wage-guarantee levy. Reduced rates and the general contribution reduction, both reserved for employees, do not apply.
| Contribution | Company share | President share | Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health, maternity, disability | 13 % | – | whole gross salary |
| Old age, capped | 8.55 % | 6.90 % | up to €48,060 |
| Old age, uncapped | 2.11 % | 0.40 % | whole gross salary |
| Family benefits | 5.25 % | – | whole gross salary |
| Agirc-Arrco, band 1 | 4.72 % | 3.15 % | up to €48,060 |
| Balancing levy (CEG), band 1 | 1.29 % | 0.86 % | up to €48,060 |
| Work accidents (average rate) | 2.08 % | – | whole gross salary |
| CSA, FNAL, training, apprenticeship | 1.63 % | – | whole gross salary |
| Executive provident cover (Urssaf assumption) | 1.5 % | – | up to €48,060 |
| CSG and CRDS | – | 9.7 % | 98.25 % of gross |
The annual social security ceiling, known as the Pass (€48,060 in 2026), divides band 1 from the rest. Above it, the capped old-age line stops and Agirc-Arrco rises to 21.59 % in total. CSG splits into 6.8 % deductible from taxable income and 2.4 % not deductible, with 0.5 % of CRDS on top.
Four salary levels worked out
The engine behind this table follows the calculation model the Urssaf publishes and stays within three thousandths of it in our tests. Amounts are yearly.
| Gross a year | Employer share | Employee share and CSG-CRDS | Net before tax | Cost to the company | Net / cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| €24,000 | €9,631 | €5,037 | €18,963 | €33,631 | 56.4 % |
| €36,000 | €14,447 | €7,555 | €28,445 | €50,447 | 56.4 % |
| €48,060 | €19,286 | €10,086 | €37,974 | €67,346 | 56.4 % |
| €70,000 | €27,889 | €14,495 | €55,505 | €97,889 | 56.7 % |
Net pay stays at roughly 56 % of what the company spends. Above the ceiling it hardly moves: the capped old-age line stops, but the dearer band 2 of Agirc-Arrco takes over. At €70,000 gross, supplementary pension costs €10,390 a year, both shares included.
Where €22,002 goes on a €36,000 salary
Paid €3,000 gross a month, a president costs the company €50,447 a year and keeps €28,445. The gap breaks down into €4,680 of health insurance, €6,466 of basic pension, €3,607 of Agirc-Arrco, €1,890 of family benefits, €3,483 of CSG-CRDS and €1,876 of smaller levies, work-accident and provident cover included.
All of it is a company expense that lowers the profit subject to corporate tax. On your personal return you declare taxable pay of €30,027, higher than the net you receive because non-deductible CSG and CRDS are added back.
SASU or EURL: one budget, two nets
Hand the same €50,447 to the majority manager of an EURL instead. That manager is a travailleur non salarié (TNS), self-employed for social security, with contributions on the self-employed scale applied after a 26 % allowance. The manager keeps €34,516, against €28,445 for the president. The SASU premium pays for employee-style Agirc-Arrco and executive provident cover, which the manager’s scale does not include. The whole choice, dividends included, is on EURL or SASU; the manager’s side is on self-employed contributions.
Three situations worth knowing
No salary at all
An unpaid president pays no contributions and the company owes nothing for them, but the role then builds no social rights. How to split pay and dividends is covered on salary or dividends.
Starting with Acre relief
Since 2026, Acre, the French start-up contribution relief, must be requested from the Urssaf within 60 days of starting, and the president must control the company (Urssaf conditions). The mini-calculator leaves it out.
Health top-up and benefits in kind
The engine counts no mutuelle (top-up health insurance), company car or housing. These change the gross pay subject to contributions and need adding separately.
Reading a French payslip as a president
Your pay is worked out like an employee’s, with the company and president columns shown above, and three French terms matter. The brut is the gross figure agreed for your role. The net à payer is what lands in your bank account. The net imposable is the figure the tax office uses, and it sits above the net paid because 2.4 % of CSG and the 0.5 % CRDS cannot be deducted from income. If you are used to a system where the employer pays almost everything, note that in France the employee side is substantial: on €36,000 gross, €7,555 comes off your own share.
All amounts here are estimates from published rates. The Urssaf alone sets the contributions actually owed, and only a professional can check your particular case.