Act No. 2003-47 of 17 January 2003 on salaries, working time and the development of employment (the “Fillon Act”) amended how the reduction of contributions is calculated.
As a result, since 1 July 2005 the maximum reduction has been 26% (in companies with more than 20 employees) for a worker paid the minimum wage. It then declines gradually to zero at 160% of the annual minimum wage. It applies irrespective of the number of hours worked. Since 2018 the maximum reduction has been increased up to 28.54% (28.49% in 2017) for companies with more than 20 employees, and up to 28.14 % (28.09% in 2016) for companies with less than 20 employees.
The Budget Act for 2007 (Article 41 V) bolsters this measure for very small enterprises with effect from 1 July 2007. For employers with between 1 and 19 employees, the maximum deduction was raised to 28.1% at the minimum wage, declining gradually – here too – to zero at 160% of the minimum wage.
In 1 January 2011 the “Fillon act” was modified and included an annualized calculation of the general tax reliefs of employer contributions. For part-time wage earners, the relief is computed using an equivalent full-time salary and is then adjusted proportionally to the number of hours paid.
From 2015, the Responsibility Pact (Phase 1) includes new reductions of the labour cost: total exemption of all URSSAF employer contributions on the minimum wage (except unemployment contributions); reduction of 1.8 point on employer-paid contributions for family allowance (3.45% instead of 5.25% for salary up to 1.6 times the minimum wage, and up to 3.5 times from April 2016).
The gross annual minimum wage (for 1 820 hours) in 2018 was an estimated EUR 17 982.