Incentive Incentive Agreements: "My Incentive Step-by-Step" Provisions and Service

The website My interest step by step

In order to encourage profit-sharing agreements, a paperless procedure for drawing up profit-sharing agreements has been set up: My interest step by step. Decree n°2023-98 of 14 February 2023 specifies the operation of this service.

This allows the drafting of an incentive agreement in accordance with the instructions. Thus, two modules are available:

• “drafting a pre-validated agreement”: the drafting of the agreement is framed in such a way as to ensure the conformity of the generated text with the legal provisions in force and to make you benefit from the social and tax exemptions as soon as you deposit on Teleagreements, without a prior examination taking place;
• “drafting a free agreement”: assistance in drafting an agreement or a unilateral decision of interest, the agreement deposited will be the subject of a review by the administrative authority.

Once the agreement has been drafted, the site provides you with a QR code and a unique identifier in order to authenticate the agreement, which will then be deposited on the Teleagreements platform after signature.

What is profit-sharing?

Profit-sharing is a wage savings plan that allows employees to receive a bonus commensurate with the performance of their company.

This optional arrangement is set up by agreement between the company and the employees or their representatives. This agreement lays down, in particular, the method of calculating the profit-sharing and the rules on the distribution of the benefits among employees. It shall be effective for the period specified in the agreement, even if the employees' representatives are replaced.

The companies are exempt from social contributions on the sums paid to employees as part of the profit-sharing. The scheme also offers tax advantages:

• deduction from taxable profit of amounts paid in connection with the profit-sharing;
• exemption from apprenticeship taxes and participation in continuing training and construction;
• under certain conditions, and if the sums are paid as part of a wage savings plan, the right to set up a provision for investment. This provision must not exceed 50% of the sums paid by the company to supplement the profit-sharing, where it is below the legal limit.

The new provisions introduced by the Purchasing Power Act

The company now has the possibility to introduce a collective award by unilateral decision if it is not covered by an approved branch agreement. This provision concerns companies with fewer than 50 employees:

• having no trade union representative and no Social and Economic Committee (ESC). Here, the company must inform employees by any means of the implementation of this collective interest;
• having failed to conclude an interest agreement after negotiations with the CSE or the union representatives. In this case, a notice of disagreement must be drawn up and the ESC must be consulted on the draft award at least 15 days before it is submitted to the administrative authority.

The duration of the Incentive Agreement may now be a maximum of 5 years (compared with 3 years previously). This agreement may be renewed several times by tacit renewal.

With regard to the distribution of pay-share benefits, periods of paternity leave and childcare leave are treated as periods of presence. The February 14, 2023 decree added to this list the quarantine periods and bereavement leave for a child.

In addition, in order to make the procedure for monitoring profit sharing agreements more flexible, agreements lodged as from 1^er january 2023 will no longer be subject to formal scrutiny by the DDETS: titleContent. As for the period within which the Ussaf may carry out a substantive check, this may not exceed three months after the deposit of the agreements.