Payroll and HR admin for your small business

Before the employee starts, the pre-employment declaration (DPAE) to URSSAF, no earlier than 8 days before their arrival. You also need, in particular, to join an occupational health and prevention service, set up collective complementary health insurance and, depending on the employee’s status and your collective agreement, protection cover, and to keep the single staff register and the risk assessment document. Enrolment in the supplementary pension scheme goes through the DSN. I give you the list in order, I take care of everything that relates to payroll and I check the rest with you.

The DSN (déclaration sociale nominative) is the monthly payroll filing, sent every month from payroll data. It replaces most social security returns and is used to report contributions, income tax withheld at source and the information that gives employees their entitlements. It is due no later than the 15th of the following month for a business with fewer than 50 employees, and the 5th for a business with 50 or more employees that pays salaries within the month worked. Sick leave or the end of a contract must also be reported within 5 working days, without waiting for the monthly DSN. I file the DSN and these reports for you.

Send me the sick note as soon as you receive it. I report it in the DSN, which allows the national health insurance (Assurance maladie) to calculate the daily allowances. Depending on the employee’s length of service and your collective agreement, you may have to top up these allowances: I calculate this sick pay top-up, with or without subrogation. Since 24 April 2024, sick leave for a non-work-related illness also earns paid holiday: 2 working days (jours ouvrables) per month of absence, up to 24 days per reference period. Example: an employee absent for three months with a non-work-related illness earns 6 working days (jours ouvrables) of paid holiday over that period. I add them to the leave balances.

The final payslip includes the sums due: salary, payment in lieu of untaken paid holiday and, where applicable, termination payments. The receipt for final settlement (reçu pour solde de tout compte) lists them. You hold this receipt, the employment certificate and the certificate for France Travail at the employee’s disposal. Once signed, the receipt can be challenged within six months: accurate amounts from the outset avoid disputes.

Yes. Some payroll calculations are made over the year, notably the social security ceiling and the general reduction in employer contributions. A takeover therefore requires the year-to-date totals since January, the leave balances, the withholding tax rates and the set-up of each contract. I collect this information from the previous provider or from your latest payslips, and I check my first payslip against the last one they produced. If your payroll was handled by a chartered accountant, I inform them of the takeover, as the profession’s rules require.

The one that matches the main activity your business actually carries out. The APE code allocated by Insee (the national statistics institute) is only an indication. The agreement sets rules that directly affect payroll: minimum wages, bonuses, sick pay top-ups, notice periods, termination payments. Its title appears on every payslip. I check it before the first payslip.

Yes. Every private-sector employer must offer collective complementary health insurance to all its employees, whatever their length of service, and fund at least half of it. The contract must meet a minimum level of cover, and your collective agreement may go further. Some employees can ask to be exempted, for example if they are already covered elsewhere: I check that each exemption is justified.

The president of an SAS or SASU is treated as an employee: their pay goes through a payslip and the DSN, with an executive’s contributions, without unemployment insurance. The managing director and sole shareholder of an EURL and the majority managing director of a SARL are self-employed: no payslip, but contributions calculated on their professional income, first provisionally and then adjusted. Example: two directors each pay themselves €3,000 a month. For the SASU president, contributions are calculated and paid every month by the company; for the EURL managing director and sole shareholder, they are called by URSSAF and then adjusted once their income has been declared. I handle both cases and help you decide between salary and dividends.

URSSAF normally announces its inspection with a notice sent in advance, except when investigating undeclared work. This notice period is the time to prepare: I review the payslips and DSN filings, starting with benefits in kind, business expenses, contribution relief, complementary health insurance and protection cover. You can be assisted by the adviser of your choice, and I help you reply to the letter of observations.

My fees are fixed and set on the basis of a quote. They depend on the number of employees, your collective agreement and the events to be handled, such as starters, leavers and sick leave. The amount is stated in the engagement letter, and the first conversation carries no commitment.