Your French payslip explained, line by line (2026)
A French payslip looks long because every contribution has its own line, but it follows one path: gross pay, social contributions, net before tax, income tax withheld at source, and the amount paid. Many of the lines are paid by your employer and are only there for information.
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From gross pay to contributions
The salaire de base is your contract salary (35 hours a week, or a set number of days a year for cadres au forfait). Overtime, bonuses (primes) and benefits in kind are added to reach the salaire brut. Contributions are then grouped by risk: Santé (health, including the mutuelle, your compulsory company health cover, at least half paid by the employer), Accidents du travail and Famille (employer only), Retraite (pension), Assurance chômage (unemployment, employer only since 2018) and Autres contributions. Each line shows a base, your rate and the employer's rate.
Pension contributions
The basic State pension takes 6.90% of your pay up to the social security ceiling (plafond de la sécurité sociale, 4,005 EUR a month in 2026) and 0.40% of all your pay. The supplementary Agirc-Arrco scheme takes 3.15% plus 0.86% (CEG) up to the ceiling, and 8.64% plus 1.08% on pay between one and eight times the ceiling. When your pay is above the ceiling, a 0.14% CET contribution applies as well. Cadres usually also pay small APEC and prévoyance contributions.
CSG and CRDS
These two levies fund social security and apply to 98.25% of gross pay, plus the employer's share of health and prévoyance cover. CSG is 9.2%: 6.8% is deductible from taxable income and 2.4% is not. CRDS is 0.5% and not deductible. That is why your taxable net (net imposable) is higher than the net you receive.
From net to paid: tax withheld at source
Net à payer avant impôt sur le revenu is what you would get with no income tax. The next line applies the withholding rate the tax office sent your employer to the net imposable. If the employer has no rate for you (a new arrival, a first job, or you chose not to share your personal rate), it must use the neutral rate grid (taux neutre): 0% below 1,635 EUR of monthly taxable pay in mainland France since May 2026, then rising by income steps; 2,500 EUR a month is taxed at 5.3%. The neutral rate ignores your family situation, so households with children often overpay. You can see and change your rate in your espace particulier on impots.gouv.fr. The montant net social, compulsory since July 2023, is the figure to declare for the RSA and the prime d'activité.
Overtime and other lines
Hours above 35 a week are paid at least 25% more for the first 8 and 50% more after that, unless a collective agreement sets another rate (never below 10%). Overtime carries a reduced employee contribution (up to 11.31%) and is free of income tax up to 7,500 EUR a year. Your employer must pay half of your public transport pass (remboursement transport). Meal vouchers (titres-restaurant) appear as a deduction for your share. Paid leave builds up at 2.5 working days a month, 30 a year.
What to check every month
Your pay is at least the SMIC (12.31 EUR gross an hour since 1 June 2026, 1,867.02 EUR a month for 35 hours) and at least your collective agreement's minimum for your classification and coefficient; overtime hours and rates; the withholding rate matches the one in your espace particulier; leave taken and remaining. A new, shorter payslip layout becomes compulsory on 1 January 2027, so your January payslip will look different. Payslop runs these checks for free.
Check your own payslip. Upload it and every line is explained, the rates verified and the questions for HR written for you. Free, nothing stored. Decode my payslip
Questions people ask
Why is my net imposable higher than my net pay?
Because 2.4% of CSG, all of the CRDS and the employer's share of your health cover are taxable even though you never receive them in cash.
My employer uses the neutral rate although I have a personal rate. What can I do?
The tax office sends your rate to the employer through the monthly payroll declaration, so a new job can take a month or two. Check your rate on impots.gouv.fr. Anything overpaid comes back after your next annual tax return, in the summer of the following year.
Are the employer contributions taken from my salary?
No. They are paid on top of your gross pay and only shown for information. They add roughly 40% to 45% to gross pay, less near the SMIC because of contribution reductions.
Related guides
Indicative rules as of October 2026. Not tax or legal advice.