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Practical guide
An internship allowance becomes compulsory beyond a threshold of hours of attendance, with an hourly minimum set by law. This guide explains how to count the hours, what you receive each month, contributions and tax, and the length rules that protect interns.
An intern is not an employee: they receive no salary but, beyond a certain length, an allowance whose minimum is set by law. This guide explains when it becomes compulsory, how to count the hours that trigger it, what you receive each month, what contributions and tax it bears, and the rules on length and rights your internship agreement must respect.
The allowance is compulsory as soon as your time with the organisation exceeds two months, counted in actual attendance rather than on the calendar: within the same school or university year, from the 309th hour of attendance, consecutive or not. That threshold corresponds to 44 days of 7 h. Once it is crossed, the allowance is due from the first day of the internship, not just for the hours beyond. It is hours that count, not weeks: for an internship at 28 h a week,
| Length | Hours of attendance | Allowance compulsory | At the minimum, in total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 weeks | 308 h | No | Optional |
| 12 weeks | 336 h | Yes | €1,512.00 |
One more week is enough to tip the internship over: check the total hours your agreement provides for. Hours are counted on actual attendance, leave and absences deducted, and they add up if you do several periods in the same organisation during the year.
The legal minimum is hourly: €4.50 per hour of attendance, i.e. 15% of the hourly social security ceiling (€30). A sector agreement can provide more, and the amount must be written in your internship agreement; if the ceiling changes on 1 January during the internship, the agreement must provide for the increase. The allowance is paid at the end of each month, either on the month's actual hours or spread evenly over the whole period. For a 6-month internship at 35 h a week, the longest allowed, that comes to €682.50 a month on average and €4,095.00 in total.
For your own internship, the internship allowance tool works out the hours, whether it is compulsory and the amounts from your timetable and length.
Up to the hourly minimum, the allowance bears no contributions, CSG or CRDS: net equals gross. Above it, only the excess is subject to them. At €5.00 an hour on the same internship, the allowance rises to €758.33 a month, of which €75.83 is subject, for a net estimated by the site's engine at €746. On the tax side, the allowance is exempt up to the annual amount of the SMIC. Interns do not pay unemployment insurance contributions.
An internship cannot exceed 6 months per host organisation and per academic year, i.e. 924 hours of attendance, counting 7 h as a day and 22 days as a month. Between two interns in the same post, the organisation must respect a waiting period equal to 1/3 of the previous internship's length. An intern cannot replace an absent employee, fill a permanent post, absorb a temporary surge in activity or do a seasonal job: if that is what you are asked to do, the internship risks being reclassified as an employment contract.
Every internship rests on an agreement signed by you, the host organisation, your school or university, your academic supervisor and your workplace tutor. Reread it before signing: dates, hours, tasks, allowance amount and payment terms. A public body cannot pay more than the minimum; a company can, and it is negotiable, especially at the end of your studies. The guide to the CV for an internship helps you land the place.
If you are weighing it against a work-study contract, compare: at the minimum, a full-time internship brings €682.50 a month, while an apprentice aged 18 to 20 receives at least €802.82 gross from the first year, with a real employment contract (see the guide to apprentice pay). And for your first job after the internship, the estimate of what your CV is worth gives you a salary benchmark calculated for your occupation.
Yes, but within the same academic year, periods spent with the same organisation add up: 6 months at most in total, and the allowance becomes compulsory from the 309th cumulative hour. For another intern taking over your post, the organisation must respect a waiting period.
Yes: it is calculated on the hours you are actually present. If it is spread evenly over the internship, a temporary interruption leads to an adjustment, and leaving early to a final settlement based on the hours actually worked.
Only the part above the annual amount of the SMIC: up to that point, an internship allowance is exempt from income tax. At the legal minimum, even the longest internship stays well below that ceiling.
No: a public body cannot pay more than the minimum allowance, or the internship risks being reclassified as an employment contract. A private company, on the other hand, can pay more, and its sector agreement sometimes requires it to.
This guide gives you a method, not legal advice: the official rules and amounts are those of the sources above, as at their date.
The site's tools and features that go with this guide: the figures there are calculated by the code, never by the AI.