A pre-financed CESU is a payment voucher that allows an individual to finance all or part of the expenses he incurs to use a personal service. This means of payment is distributed by certain companies to their employees, by certain social and economic committees (CSE), to recipients of social benefits, to members of mutual insurance companies, etc. How to use the pre-financed CESU, who is it for?
The pre-financed Universal Service Employment Check (CESU) designates a means of payment that makes it possible to pay a salary or pay for a service related to personal services. It takes the form of a security (a paper or electronic check), nominative in most cases, and it has a defined value.
Five structures are authorized by the Ministry of the Economy to issue pre-financed CESUs and make them available to companies and organizations that finance this payment voucher:Chèque Domicile, Domiserve (“La Banque Postale” Group), Edenred (“Ticket Cesu ), Natixis Intertitres (Cesu Domalin), and Sodexo (Le “Pass Cesu”).
Regarding their operation and for comparison, we can compare the pre-financed CESU to the tickets or restaurant vouchers issued by employers. The pre-financed CESU is in fact a payment voucher all or part of which is paid for by a company, a local authority, a social and economic committee (CSE), a mutual insurance company, organizations that pay social benefits (departmental councils, centers municipal or inter-municipal social action funds, social security funds, retirement funds, etc.). Pre-financed CESUs are given or sold by these organizations for an amount less than their nominal value to their employees, retirees, members, as well as to their beneficiaries.
For example, the departmental councils which pay the personalized allowance for autonomy (APA) to the elderly, subject to means testing, can issue them pre-financed CESUs, rather than a sum of money, with which the beneficiaries of these titles of payment remunerate the services to the person to whom they call.
Like restaurant vouchers, pre-financed CESUs have a limited duration, most often they can be used until January 31 of the year following that of their issue.
Companies and organizations that offer pre-financed CESUs to their employees or beneficiaries have advantages in doing so, particularly in tax and social matters. Thus, a company that finances this CESU is not subject to social security contributions, within the limit of a ceiling, for the part that it pays for. They also benefit from a tax credit of 25% of the amount of aid they pay. Thus, a company that contributes up to, for example, 100 euros for a pre-financed CESU only really pays 42 euros.
On the other hand, the financial aid received via the pre-financed CESU is not subject to income tax for those who use this means of payment.
Beneficiaries of pre-financed CESUs can use these payment vouchers mainly to pay for personal services, whether services provided at home or outside. This may include childcare, school support, the performance of household chores, small DIY or gardening, as well as assistance for the elderly who need to be accompanied and supported in acts of daily life, for their outings, etc., services that help to keep seniors in their homes. The list of personal services concerned by the pre-financed CESU is available on the service-public.fr website.
The pre-financed CESU allows either to pay a salary to a person who comes to provide one of these services to the person at home, in this case, the individual is considered as an employer and pays a net salary in this way, or to pay the invoice from a declared or approved organization in this sector of activity. The pre-financed CESU, which takes the form of a paper voucher with a defined amount, is used like a simple check.
Then, the employee employed at home, or the human services organization, must request reimbursement of the pre-financed CESU received by opening an account on the website of the Universal Service Employment Check Reimbursement Center (CRCESU) website. For his part, the individual employer must also affiliate his employee at home with this same organization and, each time he uses it, send to the National CESU Center (CNCESU) the social components submitted with his pre-financed CESUs in order to be deducted from the amount of the employer and employee contributions for which he is liable.
