A French payslip rarely fits into ten lines. Between social security contributions, the supplementary pension, CSG and CRDS, an employee under the general scheme sees around twenty line items pass between their gross salary and the amount that reaches their bank account. This guide explains what each block stands for, in the order it appears on the payslip, and why the gap between gross and net commonly reaches 20 to 25%.
Gross, net before tax, net paid: three distinct amounts
The first source of confusion is the vocabulary. The gross salary is the figure written into the employment contract: pay before any deduction. It is also the base on which almost every contribution is calculated, both employee and employer.
The net salary before income tax is the gross amount less employee contributions only. That is the figure our simulator produces, and the one usually meant when comparing two job offers.
The net paid, finally, is the sum actually transferred. It starts from net before tax, then deducts income tax withheld at source — calculated using the personalised rate the tax authorities send to the employer — and, where applicable, the employee's share of the company health insurance scheme. Two employees on the same gross salary can therefore receive very different net amounts, simply because their withholding rates differ.
Health: a branch funded mainly by the employer
The first section of a payslip covers sickness, maternity, invalidity and death. This often surprises employees: in the general case, this branch carries no employee contribution at all. It is funded by the employer, at a rate that depends on the level of pay — a reduced rate applies below a certain multiple of the minimum wage, the full rate above it.
There are exceptions, notably the local scheme in Alsace-Moselle, which provides for an additional employee health contribution. If you work in Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin or Moselle, your payslip will carry one extra line: check the applicable rates with URSSAF.
Old-age insurance: a capped part and an uncapped part
The state pension appears on two lines, and the distinction matters. The capped old-age contribution is calculated only on the portion of salary below the monthly social security ceiling. The uncapped old-age contribution applies to the entire gross salary, with no limit.
The employee rates used by our simulators are 6.90% for the capped part and 0.40% for the uncapped part. In practice, for a salary below the ceiling, both lines apply to the same base; above it, the first freezes while the second keeps rising.
The AGIRC-ARRCO supplementary pension
Every private-sector employee contributes to a compulsory supplementary pension scheme, AGIRC-ARRCO. This block has several lines: the supplementary pension itself, the general balance contribution (CEG) and, for pay above the ceiling, the technical balance contribution (CET).
Each is split into band 1 — the portion of salary below the ceiling — and band 2 for the portion above, with markedly higher rates in band 2. One important point: these rates are identical for permanent and fixed-term contracts. The employee rates used by our simulators are 3.15% in band 1 and 8.64% in band 2 for the supplementary pension, 0.86% and 1.08% for the CEG, and 0.14% for the CET.
CSG and CRDS: why a 98.25% base
CSG and CRDS often puzzle readers, for two reasons. First, they are not calculated on 100% of gross pay: the base is reduced to 98.25% of pay, as a flat-rate allowance for professional expenses, up to four times the annual social security ceiling. Above that, the allowance no longer applies.
Second, CSG is split in two: a part that is deductible from taxable income and a part that is not. Hence two separate lines on the payslip, at rates of 6.80% and 2.40% in our simulators, to which CRDS at 0.50% is added. This split has no effect on the net paid, but it does affect the income declared for tax.
Employer contributions, invisible in your net pay
The second column of the payslip, often ignored, lists the contributions borne by the employer: health insurance, old-age insurance, family allowances, unemployment insurance, work accidents, the FNAL levy, vocational training, and the employer's supplementary pension share. They do not reduce your net salary, but they determine the total cost you represent to the company.
Here is a concrete example. For a gross salary of €3,500 on a permanent contract in a company with 50 or more employees, our simulators give €729.41 in employee contributions, so a net before tax of €2,770.59, and a total employer cost of €4,795.91. Between what the company spends and what the employee receives before tax, the gap exceeds €2,000 per month.
One point deserves flagging: the work accident rate (AT/MP) varies from one employer to another according to their activity and claims history. Our simulators use an indicative value of 3.88%. To find the rate actually applied, refer to the notification URSSAF sends to your employer.
Checking your payslip: a few habits
Without redoing every calculation, several simple checks will flag an anomaly:
- Check that the gross figure matches your contract, including bonuses and overtime.
- Check the number of hours shown: 151.67 h corresponds to a full-time 35-hour week.
- Make sure the band 2 lines appear only if your gross pay exceeds the monthly ceiling.
- Compare your net before tax against an independent estimate: a gap of a few euros is normal, a gap of several tens is worth a question to the payroll department.
- Find the "montant net social", now mandatory on the payslip: it is the reference figure for your entitlement to social benefits.
If in doubt, the most effective contact remains your company's payroll department, which holds the exact settings: collective agreement, AT/MP rate, health insurance and income protection.