At the end of May. Here is the latest deadline to receive your annual incentive or participation bonus. In some companies, the bonus is paid earlier, with the April or even March salary. Before taking advantage of this financial bonus, you must make a choice: take the cash or invest.
More than 1700 euros participation bonusor close to 2000 euros of incentive: here is on average what – according to Dares – the more than 5 million employees benefiting from a profit-sharing scheme, and the more than 5 million beneficiaries of an incentive agreement, receive, according to 2021 data, the latest available . And in 2024? The outlook is expected to be rather good for employee savings bonuses paid to employees, a rebound compared to last year.
Employee savings bonus: this good surprise looming for spring 2024
Last deadline for paying these premiums: May 31st (2). But before this chance at the end of May, an option bulletin, also call interest form or participation form, must be given to the employee. This form, which takes the form of a paper or electronic form, allows you to indicate how you wish to use your premium. Employees have 15 days to express their choice, on their online space or by mail, but especially not orally because it has no value. In other words, if you are entitled to a bonus in 2024 based on your company’s 2023 results or objectives, your employer must notify you by mid-May, the latest deadline.
Option n1 – If you choose to take cash
First possibility offered by this option form: the immediate perception of your interest or your participation. Main consequence? This premium will be submitted onincome tax. It will thus inflate your taxable income for the year 2024, since for the tax administration it is a salary supplement.
| Gross employee savings bonus paid to the employee: 1500 | Marginal income tax rate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | 11% | 30% | 41% | 45% | |
| Net bonus paid into an employee savings plan | 1355 | 1355 | 1355 | 1355 | 1355 |
| Net cash bonus | 1355 | 1221 | 989 | 855 | 806 |
| Gain linked to payment into the employee savings plan | 0 | 134 | 366 | 500 | 549 |
After deduction of the CSG-CRDS: 9.7%
After deduction of CSG-CRDS and income tax
Source Eres
How to measure the tax impact of your cash bonus
It all depends on your tax level. Placed or not, a gross premium of 1500 euros is subject to the CSG and the CRDS, amounting to 9.7%, as illustrated in the table above. A non-taxable employee will therefore receive in all cases 1355 euros, whether he chooses to receive this sum directly or places it in an employee savings plan. On the other hand, an employee appearing in the 30% bracket of the income tax rate will not receive, ultimatelyonly 989 euros, after application of income tax.
Read also: Employee savings, a juicy solution for the highest salaries
If you confirm the request for immediate payment, the premium – net of CSG and CRDS – will be paid into your bank account before the legal due date. Your employer can choose to pay you this bonus at the same time as your monthly salary for May 2024.
Investment: 5 strengths and 5 weaknesses of employee savings (know before investing)
Option n2 – If you choose to place the premium
It is possible to avoid income tax by opting to invest in an employee savings plan, in return for blocking the funds for a given period. Everything then depends on the systems offered in your company. On a Perco (collective retirement savings plan), or on a company PER (retirement savings plan) (Pereco or PER COL), the funds are blocked until retirementexcept in the case of early release (3).
On a Company savings plan (PEE) or inter-company (PEI), the amounts are blocked only 5 years and the cases of early release are more numerous: acquisition of the main residence, as on PER and Perco, but also marriage, PACS, birth of a 3rd child, divorce, termination of the employment contract, etc. If you invest in a PEE or a Perco, you must choose the distribution between the different funds on this same option form.
Of course, an employee can also mix their bonus by receiving only part of the sums, or by dividing their investments between PEE and collective PER if both are available in the company. It is up to each person’s free will.
Interest, participation… This crucial document for deciphering your employee savings plan
Option n3 – If you forget to choose
What if you forget to return this option form within the deadline? THE default choice is the same for interest and for participation: a payment into the employee savings plan available within the company. Warning: the absence of choice can therefore be synonymous with money blocked for 5 years, or even until retirement since half of the premium is even allocated to a Perco (or company PER) by default for participation. Furthermore, in the absence of a choice on your part, your bonus will be invested in employee savings funds again defined by default: often the monetary fund or a prudent fund, in other words rarely the most profitable funds…
(1) French Association of Financial Management.
(2) In the law, the deadline for payment of bonuses is the first day of the 6th month following the financial year in respect of which the rights are born. In other words at the end of May when the company’s accounting year extends over a calendar year (January December), or at the end of November when the accounting year runs from July to June.
(2) For the Perco and the company PER, the cases of early release are fewer than for a PEE: acquisition of the main residence or its restoration following a natural disaster, death of the employee, their spouse or a PACS partner, disability, over-indebtedness, end of unemployment insurance rights.