May : the Urssaf income declaration

Illustration: Gally
© ADAGP, Paris, 2024

The general employee scheme applies to artists-authors, with a few specific features.

You are responsible to Urssaf Limousin for declarations and payment of social security contributions relating to your artistic income. These formalities are carried out via your personal space on artistes-auteurs.urssaf.fr.

If you declare your income for tax purposes as wages and salaries, your social security contributions will be deducted in advance. The gross amount of royalties, excluding tax, is used as the basis for calculating social security contributions. Your online declaration, to be checked and validated each year, is pre-filled with the data provided by your distributors in their quarterly declarations.

Please note: you can request a refund if you have deducted contributions in excess of the old-age contribution limit.

If you have a Siret number and declare your income as Non-Commercial Profits or "Bénéfices Non Commerciaux" (BNC), you are exempt from withholding tax. The basis for calculating social security contributions is the BNC plus 15%. Ultimately, social security contributions correspond to around 15% of your income.

Please note: if you are exempt from withholding tax, contributions for the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2024 will be calculated provisionally, based on your income for 2023, or on a flat-rate basis if you started your business in
in 2022 or 2023. Contributions for the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2024 will be adjusted following your 2023 tax return.

Important: you can adjust your provisional instalments upwards or downwards in line with income received in 2023 via your personal space.

The annual declaration of artistic income for artists began on April 25 and is open until June 10.

More information on the Urssaf website.