Administrative Simplification: What will your future payroll look like?

This is the first weight loss remedy that requires many others. Initiated more than 18 months ago and brought to the fore again last January with the discontent movement among farmers, the major administrative simplification project will take the first step forward with the presentation of a bill in the Council of Ministers this Wednesday. A text consisting of approximately twenty articles on economics, the goal of which is to simplify the lives of millions of small and medium-sized businesses.

Among the symbolic measures is the payroll, which will be transferred to a “dry” basis by 2027. “We are going to go from 55 lines to about fifteen lines,” announces Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy. I fought a lot for this. This is a real revolution. » For the vast majority of employees, this mandatory document is often incomprehensible.

“The idea is to make it more readable,” defends Louis Marguerite, a Renaissance MP for the Saône-et-Loire and the author in February, along with four other parliamentarians, of a report on simplifying life for companies for which the government has largely inspired . I’m not saying that all these lines, accumulated over fifty years, are not interesting. But we must be able to group a certain number of them.”

The reward lines will be retained.

It remains to be seen which lines will be crossed out… The Ministry of Economy’s proposal for a simplified payslip has two main lines: the total amount of remuneration paid by the employer and the amount actually received by the employee. There are about ten lines between them, including one that combines all employer contributions and contributions, and another that combines employee contributions. All items that make up remuneration – base salary, overtime, paid leave, bonuses and benefits – will be retained.

Just like the tax network, useful for completing the income tax return, the withholding tax or social network, which appeared on January 1 and aims to facilitate procedures for claimants of the active solidarity income (RSA) and the social security bonus. . Finally, the last line, titled “Advances, Deductions, etc.,” will include travel expenses, meal vouchers, and even vacation vouchers.

The exact details of this new payroll will be determined by decree after discussion with the social partners. “Everyone will want to protect their line,” predicts a member of the CPME employers’ union. “If these lines exist, it is because they are of interest,” says Isabelle Mercier, national secretary of the CFDT. I think it’s important that employees know all the fees they pay. It’s their money. »

On the road to deregulation?

“I’m not sure that’s a big oversimplification,” analyzes Michel Picon, president of U2P, a trade union for petty bosses. We keep the form simple, but ask that companies retain all information in case employees accidentally request it. We would like the calculation method to be simplified.”

In short, a simplification that promises to be complex. Moreover, some workers’ unions are already concerned about the text, which may take the form of “deregulation” in the interests of business rather than “simplification”. “It’s not true,” says Bercy, who is committed to changing the relationship between government and business. “We want to move from mistrust to trust,” insists Bruno Le Maire. From sanctions to advice. »

Thus, the text decriminalizes a certain number of obligations that are not respected by business leaders. “When you are an entrepreneur, you also have the right to make mistakes,” explains Bruno Le Maire. We need to move away from the idea that they are potential fraudsters.”

It also facilitates access to public markets for VSEs and SMEs and reduces a certain number of administrative procedures. So by 2027, companies will no longer have to submit 15 million sick leave declarations to Social Security because they already have the information. The same deletion applies to the 26 million unemployment insurance certificates sent to France Travail each year.

As for social thresholds and deadlines for consideration of labor disputes, which were proposed to be considered in the parliament report, these topics have been postponed until the fall. They will be studied within the framework of the new labor legislation.