Keep on right side of the law if you work with spouse

But one in six MPs in France also has a spouse, child or cousin being paid state funds as an assistant parlementaire and tens of thousands of business owners all over France also employ their families.
After claims his wife did not do any work, Mr Fillon said what he did was long-standing “practice in political life” but he admitted it was “no longer accepted by the French people”.

So, how do you work with your spouse legally?

Whereas 60% of businesses in the UK are family-owned, this rises to 83% in France and until 2005 spouses could be left with little or nothing to show for the work they had done, especially if it was unpaid.
The law was changed in 1982 and improved in 2005, so that spouses who worked in a family business had to choose a status for what they did. They have three options: as conjoint colla­borateur, conjoint salarié, or conjoint associé with each giving health­­care, welfare and social benefits – and all but conjoint associé giving pension rights.

Opting for the status of conjoint collaborateur is a simple way for a spouse or pacsé (civil) partner of the business owner to give unpaid professional help in the business and to get recognition of their contribution.
As well as being simple with few formalities, it is also an adaptable and cheap way for a business with under 20 employees to offer complete welfare protection and can be used even if the conjoint already has a separate work activity.

The spouse must perform a regular activity in the business (most carry out administrative or financial roles), must not be paid for the work and should not be considered a business partner (someone having a commercial interest).
The conjoint is affiliated to the Régime Social des Indé­pendants (RSI) and pays social charges for basic pension rights and receives set benefits such as health cover, sickness benefits and maternity pay as well as the right to continuous professional training – which could extend to French or other lessons.

In order not to impose an extra load on the business, funding for a pension and invalidity benefit is done on either a flat-rate basis or as a portion of the income of the business owner.
Pension rights can be acquired through five different formulas that, although essentially simple, depend on the business setup and on whether the conjoint is making any additional contribution.
Where a contribution is made this is based on either: one-third of the PASS social security ceiling (which gives the right to four quarters towards a pension), one-third of the business owner’s income or half the owner’s income (in these latter cases, the pension rights acquired depend on the income concerned, with four quarters needing a revenue of more than €888 a month).

If no conjoint payment is made, and to avoid levying extra social charges on the business, the owner can contribute on the basis of one third or one half of their income (having already paid the remaining fraction).
Payments are tax-deductible, but this does not apply for micro-entrepreneurs.

Spouses who opt for the conjoint salarié status must have a contrat de travail, receive monthly pay slips and be paid corresponding to the industry agreed rate or, if in an activity that is not defined by a professional agreement, by the equivalent or more than the Smic.

The spouse is entitled to the same benefits as other employees – sickness, maternity and invalidity benefits as well as unemployment benefit and the right to a pension.
Social charges are paid on the same basis as other staff.

A conjoint associé is really the equivalent of a business partner – so this not possible for auto-entrepreneurs – and is affiliated to the RSI in the same way as the business owner.
Business owners who regularly work with their spouse or other family member should move to regularise their status as this is a legal obligation of running the business.

Not doing so could be seen as an offence, travail dissimulé, the same as having an employee ‘working on the black’ (not properly declared) and liable to penalties and the possible repayment of social charges.