PRIME MACRON 2022. The amount of the PEPA premium will triple this year to reach up to 6,000 euros. In practice, do employers pay this amount? What conditions to touch it? Linternaute.com answers all your questions.
[Mis à jour le 21 juin 2022 à 08h58] Introduced in 2018 after the Yellow Vests crisis, the Macron bonus allows your employer to pay you an exceptional annual bonus, in the form of an employee dividend. This bonus is now capped at 1,000 euros, but the Head of State has announced his wish to triple the amount! In fact, as of next year, this bonus, also known as the exceptional purchasing power bonus, will go from 1,000 euros to €3,000 for all, and from 2,000 euros to €6,000 for companies that have signed a agreement toprofit-sharing. These amounts are ceilings, the premium cannot therefore exceed them. In reality, even until then, the ceilings were rarely reached by paying employers. In 2021, 4 million PEPA bonuses were paid, for an average amount of 506 euros. Interesting, certainly, but still far from the authorized ceiling. So, the Macron bonus will indeed triple this year, but will the amount paid by the bosses reach the rather impressive sum of 6,000 euros? Answer in a few months.
To claim it and hope to receive it, one condition remains mandatory for all employees. Remuneration must be less than 3x the amount of minimum wage. For the time being, Emmanuel Macron has not made it compulsory, an option which is not to be excluded for a minimum amount. The government will therefore take the floor at the beginning of July, to announce all the latest details concerning this PEPA bonus, and the new terms and conditions applicable in 2023. Remember that this Macron bonus is completely exempt from tax and contributions. A real advantage, whether on the side of the employer or the employee.
The amount of the Macron bonus exempt from contributions is capped at €1,000. However, this amount may triple and reach €3,000 in the event of a majority obtained by the LREM group in the National Assembly following the legislative elections on June 12 and 19. A major campaign promise from the Head of State, it could come into force this year, at the beginning of the summer with the promulgation of the purchasing power bill by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
This exceptional purchasing power premium could also go from €2,000 at €6,000 net of tax if the paying company has signed a profit-sharing agreement, has less than 50 employees and for second-line workers (if revaluation measures are taken).
Since 2019, employees have been able to receive an exceptional bonus, exempt from taxes and social security contributions called “Macron bonus”. This exceptional purchasing power bonus (is paid by any employer who wishes it to employees, under certain conditions. In particular if the employee in question does not exceed a certain income limit. This tax and social security exemption scheme aims to encourage employers to pay bonuses to their employees in order to enhance their purchasing power. It is not a state bonus, but a company bonus which remains optional and voluntary.
To be exempt from employee contributions, the Macron bonus cannot exceed the amount of €1,000. Companies that have a profit-sharing agreement can pay the Macron bonus up to €2,000. This amount, doubled, is also valid for companies with fewer than 50 employees, and second-line workers (if revaluation measures are taken). This bonus could now triple in the event of re-election of the LREM candidate on April 24, going from 1,000 euros to 3,000 euros. And up to 6,000 euros without charges or taxes for companies benefiting from a profit-sharing agreement.
The exceptional purchasing power bonus is exempt from income tax and from any social security contributions or contributions. But then, who is eligible for the Macron bonus? Employees earning less than 3 times the Smic (over the 12 months preceding the payment). This Macron bonus does not replace any element of remuneration. Already extended in 2021, the premium PEPA is renewed for the year 2022. Note that the employer is not obliged to pay the Macron bonus. If he wishes to pay it, he has the option of doing so atall of its employeesor only to employees whose remuneration is less than 3 times the Smic.
In 2022, the Macron bonus benefits both employees and apprentices, as well as temporary workers and public officials. The employer can completely modulate the amount of the payment of the PEPA bonus according to the beneficiary according to certain criteria such as the employee’s remuneration, the employee’s classification level, his working conditions during the Covid crisis, or still his working time over a year.
The Macron bonus is paid within a period provided for by law. In this case, between the June 1, 2021 and the March 31, 2022. Whether you are a civil servant, an employee, or an industrialist, you have the possibility of benefiting from it. With the purchasing power bill, the reform of the Macron bonus should be announced in the coming weeks, after the legislative elections according to the last words of government spokesperson Olivia Grégoire.