“Annual statement”, the kind of document you receive in multiple editions… From your bank. Your insurer. Your employee savings manager. But they all hide much more interesting information than you might think. For employee savings, this statement is valuable for rediscovering or reviewing your investments and knowing when you can recover the “cash”.
Not at all ! No, don’t throw that certainly off-putting letterhead “annual status report” straight into the trash. No, do not directly send this email evoking your employee savings to the trash without even having opened it. Here are 5 good reasons to be interested in this annual employee savings statement, a much more “muscular” document than a few years ago.
1 ?? Your savings and their availability
The law has long required the manager of your employee savings plan?? the “account holder”, in the jargon, chosen by your employer?? to inform you at least once a year of the progress of your plan. But the rule ended there. A long time, ” everyone did what they wanted on this annual statement recognizes Catherine Pays-Lenique, CEO of Epsens. Some account holders were content to specify the amount of savings held, before or after social security contributions, specifying the movements (voluntary payments, profit-sharing or participation bonuses, top-ups, etc.) made during the past year .
This was before the Pacte law. A revised and corrected statement appeared last year. From now on, all managers must display the same information in this statement, which must imperatively be distributed to all salaried savers before March 31. “The advantage is harmonization,” continues Catherine Pays-Lenique, from Epsens, number 6 in account management in France behind the banking groups. “The Pacte law provides a framework, with tax information, what is available now, or on the future date of availability, on what comes from a time savings account, an update on fees, on assets in the various funds, etc. »
The Labor Code now requires that the dates of availability appear on this statement (which some managers were already doing): for a Company Savings Plan (PEE), on which the sums deposited are blocked for 5 years, you therefore have the details of the savings that you can withdraw, and on what date. For a Perco or Collective Company Retirement Savings Plan (PER) (Pereco), employee savings plans dedicated to retirement, the deadline is obviously further away.
Example taken from the Société Générale statement
2?? Details of fees paid last year
Look for the “expenses” chapter or the mention “expenses payable by you in 2021” on this annual statement. Most often, this section is not sensational because, in employee savings (PEE, Perco and Pereco), account maintenance costs are always borne by the company. With the exception of a few ad hoc and very specific requests (withdrawal requested on paper, opposition, etc.).
But this section will be very interesting in one case: if you have left the company that opened this employee savings plan for you. A persistent concern for employee savings, with many cases – relayed by the mediator of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) – of employees whose savings have melted over the years after leaving their post, for lack of information on these account maintenance fees. Costs which are now capped, and for which you are therefore better informed.
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“Previously, we did not have the obligation to draw up a personalized statement of expenses each year, testifies Catherine Pays-Lenique. From now on, each account holder will have to do so. This information on the fees satisfies first and foremost Marielle Cohen-Branche, AMF mediator, who contributed to the work prior to the Pacte law on this point: “This new statement will in particular raise awareness of the fees” , including beyond those related to leaving the company.
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Previously, ” some statements mentioned capping or deductions from assets “, adds Marielle Cohen-Branche: since 2021, “all account keepers must show the costs borne by the employee over the past year. It is the counterpart of the annual statement of bank charges, which customers have been receiving every year for more than 10 years. »
Example taken from the Amundi statement – Crédit Agricole
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3?? How much, on what funds?
New obligation: the statement must show the amount of your assets on each “management medium”, in other words each fund – FCPE (1) most of the time – with a possible mention of the management methods chosen or available (managed management, for example).
Useful to take stock of your investment choices, and possibly to review them… The document also summarizes the operations (arbitrage, withdrawals, payments, etc.) carried out during the past year.
Example from the Epsens survey
4?? Your wins (or losses)
The law does not oblige your account holder to detail your capital gains or losses each year, since you also theoretically have access to an online space allowing a more detailed analysis of your investment choices. But the managers most often provide this information, which is valuable for alerting you to a fund that pays too little.
Example taken from the Société Générale statement
5?? Another forgotten plan?
This is not a legal obligation, but many managers of employee savings plans show, on this statement, the existence of other plans with other account holders. Practical, if you ever forgot these other plans… Epsens has chosen to display this information “several years ago” as confirmed by general manager Catherine Pays-Lenique. Who sees it as one of the positive aspects of this revamped statement: “This new version should promote the consolidation of employee savings and retirement plans with a single manager. “Catherine Pays-Lenique does not however anticipate a “rush” of “requests following the sending of this statement in its new version”, “except for those who pay fees after leaving their company”.
5 pieces of information that must appear in your annual statement
- Identification the company and the beneficiary;
- Rising total rights and assets recorded in the beneficiary’s account (as of December 31);
- Amount of assets on each plane and on each employee savings fund (most often FCPE), with the dates of availability for the different amounts;
- Summary of sums invested during the past year in the plan presented by type of payment, and the sums disinvested from the plan over the same period, distinguishing those resulting from a case of early release;
- Summary of fees borne by the employee during the past year, including account maintenance costs if they are borne by the employee following the departure of the company (which paid them before the employee left).
The statement must be submitted at the time of 1st quarter 2022. It can be sent by E-mail, unless the beneficiary expressly requests paper delivery.
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(1) Corporate Mutual Fund