Employing someone in France

[fraktious]

I'm going back to work at the end of August, looking for a nanny and therefore looking into the logisitics of employing one. The outre-mer URSSAF site is impenetrable as I think they're assuming knowledge I lack!

Has anyone done it (in mainland France)? Or can someone talk me through the process and working out the calculations in words of one syllable, as that might help me work out what the big differences are?

I know I need to register with URSSAF, and nanny will need to apply for a social security number which will be fun and games, but is there a handy tool to calculate the charges I need to pay above the salaire brut, and what the salaire brut translates to in net terms?

Is there an agency I can outsource this to?!

Maybe you can pay her in Cheque Emploi Services? www.cesu.urssaf.fr/cesweb/home.jsp

Yes! use the CESU site.

It is actually okay once you get your head around it. You don't actually need cheques. Just declare the income through the site and get the social charges deducted each month from your bank account. Then, at the end of the year it automatically prints out the statement for the tax man on how much you spent so that you can claim half of it back as a tax credit.

From memory you needed to put in the amount you paid her (including 10% uplift for holiday pay) and then the site worked out how much to deduct and took it from your bank account. The worker doesn't actually see the salaire brut ever. They just get the salaire net that you write your cheque for at the end of the month.

In practice, I remember the nanny negotiated that she wanted 1600 Euros a month salaire net for her 50 hours a week. It was then up to us to make this fit into the CESU site. I think this was the SMIC (minimum wage) for 40 hours, then 8 hours at 1.5x SMIC, then 2 hours earned as paid holiday (there is a limit to the number of hours people can work each week so you will need to pay some as 'time in lieu'). The details are a bit tricky but in essence the Nanny cared about what she got in the hand and not about what the salaire net or brut was. If you are outre-mer then the SMIC will be different from the SMIC metropole I believe.

If you are eligible for the Secu (did you get the Prime de Naissance?) then it is a different kettle of fish and you need to go through the PAJEmploi and I have no words of wisdom for that!

Remember that this is just social charges. The tax is up to the Nanny to look after.

Yes, there are agencies that do it. I found the CESU really easy and so didn't bother.

Most of the issue with this thing is that you needed to understand the acronyms. The system is rather arcane but if you can hammer the round peg into the square hole it works rather well.

Sorry, I've got excited about actually using this knowledge I spent hours gleaning from the internet.

The SMIC looks to be the same for DOM/TOM: www.cesu.urssaf.fr/cesweb/taux.jsp

The employers association may be helpful:
www.fepem.fr

I think the salaire brut is only useful for the employee to declare taxes. I just remember not worrying about it. Salaire net is the key.

Some of the nounou-finding websites such as Bebe Nounou have helpful FAQ sections as well.