Question 1

On a 39-hour contract, does overtime start at 35 or at 39 hours?

Accepted Answer

At 35 in the vast majority of cases. Article L3121-27 of the French Labour Code sets the statutory duration at 35 hours, and that is a trigger threshold, not a ceiling. On an ordinary 39-hour contract, the 4 hours beyond 35 are therefore genuine overtime — called structural overtime because they are built into the contract — and the premium of at least 25 % is mandatory. There is one exception: equivalence regimes, specific to sectors involving periods of inactivity. A higher threshold replaces the statutory duration there. In road freight transport it is 43 hours a week for long-haul drivers and 39 hours for short-haul and parcel delivery. Hours between 35 and that threshold are equivalence hours: paid, but neither enhanced nor exempt. The calculator lets you select the applicable threshold.

Question 2

What is an equivalence hour?

Accepted Answer

It is an hour worked between the statutory 35 hours and the equivalence threshold specific to your sector. Lawmakers considered that certain jobs involve periods of inactivity — waiting, loading, surveillance — that do not amount to effective working time in the strict sense. These hours are paid, but they are not overtime: they carry no 25 % premium, no 11.31 % contribution reduction and no income tax exemption. The sectors concerned are set by decree or by extended collective agreement: road transport, social and family tourism, fruit and vegetable retail, and security work, among others.

Question 3

What is the net salary on a 39-hour contract?

Accepted Answer

A 39-hour contract carries 4 overtime hours a week, or 17.33 hours a month at a 25 % premium. They make up exactly 12.5 % of total gross. These hours enjoy a special regime: an 11.31 % reduction in employee contributions and an income tax exemption up to €7,500 net a year. At identical gross, a 39-hour employee therefore keeps slightly more net than a 35-hour one. Select your weekly hours in the calculator to see the exact effect.

Question 4

Why is the overtime reduction set at 11.31 %?

Accepted Answer

Because that rate matches the sum of an employee's pension contributions exactly: 6.90 % capped state pension, 0.40 % uncapped state pension, 3.15 % AGIRC-ARRCO band 1 and 0.86 % CEG. Lawmakers capped the reduction at that level so it cancels the pension contributions on those hours without ever going further. CSG and CRDS remain fully due.

Question 5

How do you calculate net salary from gross in France?

Accepted Answer

You deduct employee social contributions from the gross: capped state pension (6.90 % below the ceiling), uncapped state pension (0.40 %), AGIRC-ARRCO (3.15 % in band 1, 8.64 % in band 2), the CEG and CET contributions, and CSG-CRDS at 9.70 % on 98.25 % of gross. Contrary to a common belief, CSG-CRDS often weighs more than pension contributions. The total comes to around 21 % of gross.

Question 6

How do you work out gross from net?

Accepted Answer

There is no direct formula, because rates change at the social security ceiling. You have to proceed by successive approximation, which is what the net → gross mode above does. As a rule of thumb, allow about €1.26 of gross for €1 of net before tax: €2,000 net corresponds to roughly €2,526 gross, and €2,500 net to about €3,158 gross.

Question 7

What is €2,000 gross in net?

Accepted Answer

About €1,583 net before tax for a private sector non-cadre in 2026, close to 79 % of gross. As that stays below the €1,635 taxable net threshold, no withholding tax applies at the default rate. For €2,500 gross, expect about €1,979 net; for €3,000 gross, about €2,375.

Question 8

Why is my taxable net higher than what I receive?

Accepted Answer

Because two levies are not deductible from taxable income: non-deductible CSG (2.40 %) and CRDS (0.50 %). They are genuinely withheld from your salary, but the tax authority adds them back into the base. The employer share of health cover is added too.

Question 9

Does a cadre earn less than a non-cadre on the same gross?

Accepted Answer

Slightly. Below the ceiling the gap is just the APEC levy (0.024 %), under a euro a month. It widens above €4,005 gross: the portion above the ceiling moves into band 2, where the supplementary pension rate rises from 3.15 % to 8.64 %. In exchange, cadres accumulate more pension points.

Question 10

Does this work for overseas France?

Accepted Answer

Yes for Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, French Guiana, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin: only the withholding tax grid differs. No for Mayotte, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, which run autonomous schemes. The calculator then shows a notice.

Question 11

Is the calculation exact to the cent?

Accepted Answer

No, and no general calculator can be. Your collective agreement may set higher benefit rates than the legal minimum, and items such as bonuses, tax-exempt overtime and benefits in kind change the base. For an official calculation, the URSSAF simulator is the reference.

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