Understand your French payslip
✓ Last verified 15 August 2026
Checked against: www.service-public.gouv.fr, entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr, www.securite-sociale.fr, www.caf.fr
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Every employee (salarié) in France must receive a payslip — a fiche de paie, also called a bulletin de paie — every time they’re paid. This guide covers what must legally be on it, what must never be on it, what happens if you never get one, and the figure on it that CAF now cares about most for RSA and Prime d’activité claims.
Digital is the default now
Since 2017, the default has been to send payslips electronically, with paper delivery kept only for employees who disagree with going paperless.
What must legally be on it
The current payslip model has been in place since 1 July 2023, organised into seven mandatory information zones, and it stays valid until 31 December 2026 (see below for what changes after that).
| Zone | What it must show |
|---|---|
| 1. Employer & employee ID | Employer’s name and address, its APE/NAF activity code and SIRET number, the collective agreement (or Labour Code reference) covering paid leave and notice periods, your name and job title with your level or coefficient, the pay period and hours worked — normal-rate and overtime shown separately with their rates — and, if you’re on a fixed-hours or fixed-days arrangement (forfait), its nature and volume |
| 2. Pay | Your gross pay, the amount and base of social contributions owed by you and your employer before any exemptions, your own contribution rate before exemptions, other payments and deductions (notably commuting costs), paid-leave dates and allowance if a leave period falls inside the pay period, and the net amount you actually received |
| 3. Social contributions | Social protection contributions grouped into five categories — health, workplace accidents and occupational diseases, retirement, family, unemployment — plus the total value of any exemptions and the total amount your employer paid overall |
| 4. Net to pay & net taxable | Your net pay before income tax, and the income tax withheld at source |
| 5. Montant net social | Your net income after every mandatory social deduction |
| 6. Income tax | The net taxable amount used to calculate your withholding, and the tax withheld at source |
| 7. Final mentions | A note pointing to service-public.fr’s section on employee contributions, a note telling you to keep the payslip indefinitely, and — if you were on short-time work (activité partielle) — the number of hours compensated |
What must never appear on it
Your employer must not record your use of the right to strike, or your role as an employee representative, on your payslip. Pay linked to representative duties has to go on a separate sheet attached to the payslip instead.
If you never get one, or you lose one
If your employer doesn’t hand over a payslip, they risk a fine of up to €450 per missing payslip.
If you lose one, you can ask your employer for a duplicate — but there’s no legal requirement for them to provide it.
Records and disputes
Your employer must keep a copy of your payslip, paper or electronic, on company premises for 5 years. Some payslip data is kept longer still — either 50 years from when it was issued, or 6 years after you retire.
You can dispute the amount or accuracy of a payslip for 3 years from the day you received it.
The montant net social: the figure CAF wants
Zone 5 of your payslip shows the montant net social — your net income after every mandatory social deduction. Since 1 February 2024, it’s the exact figure to declare for every RSA or Prime d’activité application and quarterly resource declaration. It’s clearly defined and displayed on every payslip.
A new payslip model arrives in 2027
The model described above stays authorised until 31 December 2026. A new, simplified payslip model becomes mandatory from 1 January 2027 — expect the zones above to change before then.