From January 1st 2017, companies are able to remit electronic payslips providing that employees are informed of their right to refuse and that they do not exercise that right.
From January 1st 2018, companies with a headcount of less than 300 Employees will be required to provide a simplified payslip. In fact, the new payslip is already an option as companies can choose to implement it before 2018. This new payslip should include certain information which is already mandatory, and new information which should be added. Furthermore, the presentation of social contributions on the payslip will be restructured.
Electronic payslip
The new rule is that companies are able to remit electronic payslips provided that they are recorded in conditions that guarantee their integrity, and that the employee does not refuse. It means that employees’ specific consent is no longer required for companies who wish to provide electronic payslips.
However, to implement electronic payslips, companies must inform employees by any means of their right to refuse at least one (1) month prior to issuing the first electronic payslips. Companies will have to deal with any refusals within three (3) months of their notification.
Furthermore, companies must ensure that electronic payslips are kept during fifty (50) years or until the employee reaches the age of seventy-five (75).
The option for a simplified payslip in 2017
The content of the French payslip has been modified due to its high complexity and with the objective to make it more understandable for employees.
Although the new simplified payslip is already a requirement for companies whose headcount is more than 300 employees, it will not be mandatory for other companies before January 1st 2018. However, companies not concerned to date have the option to issue the new payslip before that date.
Companies who are not concerned by this requirement before 2018 and who do not wish to apply the option in 2017, still have the possibility to apply the previous measures whose objectives were also to simplify payslips, as for example the possibility to not mention the employer’s social contributions providing that an annual summary is remitted to the employee; or to group social contributions depending on their base of calculation and the institutions to which payment is made.
New items and items that disappear in 2018
The new payslip will still include mandatory indications such as the name and address of the employer, the identification of the employee, the rules applicable to the employment contract, the period and date of payment, the remuneration, etc. However, the reference to the institution to which the employer pays the social security contributions as well as the annual summary detailing the contributions paid, will be removed from the new payslip.
Items to be added in the new payslip are the followings: the business sector code (activity code); the Company’s registration number (Sirene register); the amount, base and rate of legal and conventional social contributions; the total amount of social contributions exemptions; and the total amount paid by the employer which includes the gross salary and the employer’s social contributions. The purpose of these new additions is to give the employees more visibility on the employer’s total labour costs.
Social contributions restructured in 2018
With the objective to simplify French payslips, social contributions will be restructured based on the risk covered, i.e. health, occupational accident and illness, retirement, family and unemployment.