Many companies are unaware of the role and usefulness of the apprenticeship tax, which is nevertheless mandatory. What is this tax actually for? What is it funding? Explanations.
The apprenticeship tax is a tax intended to finance the development of apprenticeship, technological and vocational education. The company must pay it on February 28 of each year to a skills operator (OPCO).
Individuals or legal entities not subject to corporation tax (IS) are liable for the apprenticeship tax when they carry out a craft, commercial or industrial activity. Organizations and associations subject to corporate income tax as well as economic interest groups (GIE), cooperative societies for the production, processing, conservation and sale of agricultural products are also concerned.
Companies employing one or more apprentices whose payroll does not exceed 6 times the annual minimum wage are exempt.
The apprenticeship tax is levied on the basis of the wages paid by the employer. Concretely, it is divided into three parts:
There is also the additional contribution to apprenticeship (CSA) for companies with at least 250 employees and which do not reach the work-study quota of 5%. It should however be specified that since the 1 st January 2019, the CSA and the apprenticeship tax merged to form the single contribution to vocational training and work-study .
The rate of the apprenticeship tax is set at 0.68% of the payroll of the previous year (0.44% for the departments of Moselle, Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin). The tax base includes for their gross amount:salaries, wages and allowances, paid vacation allowances, bonuses and gratuities.
Companies subject to this tax can pay this tax by making discharge expenses with an OPCO. It can be a chamber of commerce, a chamber of trades and crafts or an approved joint collecting body (OPCA). It is then up to the OPCO to pay back the proceeds of the apprenticeship tax according to the distribution chosen by the employer. Indeed, the latter must indicate in his declaration the training organizations from which they wish to benefit from part of the payment of the apprenticeship tax.
Companies that have not paid all taxes due before 1 st March will have to pay twice the insufficiency noted with the Service des taxes des entreprises (SIE) on which they depend. Payment of the apprenticeship tax to the public finance accountant also entails an increase equal to the deficiency observed. Companies therefore have an interest in paying the full amount due to the OPCOs in order to avoid a 100% surcharge.
