Employee contributions in France: what each payslip line pays for

Between your gross and your net, a column of lines with obscure names: capped pension, CEG, deductible CSG. Each one funds a specific risk, and almost each has a twin paid by the employer, invisible in your net pay but part of what you cost. This guide takes them one by one, with the amounts of an example salary read from the site's engine.

What you pay, what the employer pays: the example

Non-cadre employee, €3,000 gross a month, permanent full-time contract, general collective rules, company with fewer than five employees, standard company health cover, outside Alsace-Moselle. A dash means the line does not exist for that side, or is nil.

Monthly amounts read from the modele-social publicodes engine (general scheme rules, 2026 rates), to the cent; a few small employer lines (apprenticeship tax, social dialogue) are not in the table but are included in the total. Resulting take-home pay: €2,353.

Pension: the biggest share

Four lines fund your pension. The capped basic pension line only applies to the part of pay under the monthly social security ceiling (€4,005 since 1 January 2026): it earns your quarters and your basic pension. The uncapped line applies to all of your pay, at a much lower rate. The Agirc-Arrco supplementary pension buys points, with a higher rate on the part of pay above the ceiling; the CEG goes with it without earning points. Above the ceiling, the CET (technical balancing contribution) also appears (€8 of employee share for €6,000 gross, according to the engine).

Health: insurance, mutuelle, Alsace-Moselle

The health insurance contribution no longer has an employee share outside Alsace-Moselle: the employer pays it alone, and the CSG has taken over on the employee side. In the Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle departments, the local scheme adds an employee contribution (€39 a month in our example) in exchange for better reimbursements. The company health cover (mutuelle) is the only health line you really pay: compulsory, at least 50% funded by the employer, its amount depends on the contract the company chose, often a flat fee rather than a percentage of your salary. The guide on company health cover details the exemptions and its effects on your net pay.

CSG and CRDS: the tax that doesn't say its name

The general social contribution (CSG) is the heaviest line on your payslip after pension contributions. It is calculated on a base slightly lower than gross pay, and splits in two: the deductible part is taken off your taxable income, the non-deductible part, with the CRDS, is withheld but still taxed. That is why your taxable net exceeds your take-home pay, as the guide on net pay after tax explains. On overtime, the CSG and CRDS are still due, even though those hours carry lower pension contributions and are exempt from income tax up to a yearly limit set by law.

Unemployment, family, accidents: the employer alone

Part of your protection costs your payslip nothing: unemployment insurance and the wage guarantee (AGS), family allowances, work accidents, housing aid, vocational training, autonomy. The employer pays them alone, on top of gross pay, with a general reduction on low wages that shrinks as the salary rises. In total, for our example, every euro of net pay costs the employer €1.70. The guide on the cost of an employee and the employer cost tool detail this hidden side, which matters when you negotiate: your employer thinks in total cost, not in net pay.

Cadres: APEC and provident cover

Cadre status adds two lines. The tiny APEC contribution (€0.72 for you and €1.08 for the employer on €3,000 gross) funds the association that supports cadres in their job search. The cadre provident cover (incapacity, disability, death) is entirely paid by the employer on the part of pay under the ceiling (€45 a month here). It is not taxable up to the limit set by the French tax code, but it is subject to the CSG and CRDS, which are taken from your salary. As a result, together with the APEC, on the same gross, a cadre's net pay is €2,348 against €2,353 for a non-cadre. Taxable net pay, on the other hand, does not go up: €2,455 for the cadre against €2,459, because the employer's provident contribution is left out of it and the APEC and the deductible part of that CSG come off it. The guide on cadre pay compares both statuses at several gross levels.

Read these lines before you negotiate

Contributions are not money lost: they are deferred pay (pension), insured pay (health, unemployment) or pooled pay (family). But they explain why a gross pay rise is trimmed by the time it reaches your net, and why the employer sees an even larger sum. To find these lines on your own payslip, read the guide to your payslip explained; to redo the calculation with your gross, the gross-to-net converter gives total contributions, net pay and taxable net pay to the nearest euro; and to know whether your gross matches your profile, the CV analysis works out what you are worth on the market.