You grant qualified free shares or stock-options pursuant to the French commercial code and these awards benefit from the corresponding qualified special tax and social treatment in France.
The exemption of French ordinary employee and employer social security contributions notably results from the compliance with mandatory reporting requirements and special employer contribution payment which have to be made by the French entities employing the participants.
For your convenience, please find hereafter a reminder of the applicable reporting requirements.
Employer contribution payment upon Grant or Vesting (depending on the applicable regime)
DSN monthly Filing or Final Annual DADS-U Filing
The employer is required to report to the French authorities grants, free shares vestings and stock-options exercises that occurred in 2017:
- Where your monthly reporting returns (Déclaration Sociale Nominative – DSN) have been filed under Phase 3 format for the whole 2017 tax year (January through December 2017):
- Reporting must be made in the DSN of the month of the event.
- Where some of your monthly reporting returns (Déclaration Sociale Nominative – DSN) have not been filed under Phase 3 format in 2017:
- Reporting must be made in the DSN of the month of the event and in the annual DADS that you will have to file before January 31st 2018.
Individual 2017 Vesting/Exercise certificates to be provided to the participants before March 1st 2018
Next Steps
- Identify the applicable deadline for 2017 reporting for each French entity concerned.
- Granting companies should ensure that the process for providing the new required infor-mation on time to subsidiaries in France is clearly mapped out.
- Remember to provide individual certificates before March 1st 2018.
