ACTIVITY PREMIUM. Pay attention to the deadline for declaring your quarterly resources. If you want to receive the activity bonus, you only have a few days left, otherwise it might pass you by.
[Mis à jour le 25 janvier 2022 à 15h17] Established to encourage professional activity and support household purchasing power, activity bonus has been distributed by the CAF or MSA in your department since January 2016. Payments are made in arrears between the 5th and 7th of the month, depending on the deadlines set by your bank.
Be careful, you have no more time to lose. The due date is fast approaching. Indeed, you only have a few hours left before making your quarterly resource statement with a view to obtaining the activity bonus from February 2022. This takes into account income from October to December 2021. The deadline for your declaration? the Monday, January 31, 2022.
The activity bonus is an allowance paid monthly by CAF. It is aimed at both workers and the self-employed, civil servants and apprentices. Its granting is conditional the applicant’s resources, which must not exceed a ceiling (read below). The amount of the activity bonus is 553 euros for a single person without housing assistance. On average, a recipient receives 160 euros per month. “The activity bonus is paid each month”, it says on the CAF website. “The beneficiaries of the activity bonus must declare their income for the previous quarter every 3 months, in the My Account space. or on the mobile app Caf-Mon Compte”.
It is possible for you to check your eligibility and to estimate, if necessary, the amount of the activity bonus to which you might claim. To do this, go to the simulator posted on the CAF website. You must enter several pieces of information: Your postal code, date of birth, whether you have received professional income, family situation, your status (self-employed, self-employed, student, trainee, apprentice, employee or other), your income (before withholding tax). Be careful though: the amount that this simulator will show you is only a indicative estimate. The amount that will be granted to you following your request may therefore differ.
The activity bonus concerns all workers (salaried or not) and students receiving a professional income. The latter is paid monthly and in arrears by the CAF or the MSA of your department in arrears, between the 5 and 7 of the month (depending on your bank’s deadlines).
To claim the activity bonus, it is necessary to meet several conditions, here they are:
- Being older than 18
- Live in France permanently
- Exercise a professional activity or be compensated under the Partial unemployment or technical
- Be French or a citizen of the European Economic Area or Switzerland or be a citizen of another country and have resided in France on a regular basis for at least 5 years
Conversely, you will not be able to benefit from the activity bonus in the following cases:
You are a posted worker temporarily carrying out your activity in France
You are on parental leave for education, sabbatical, without pay or on availability
You are a student or apprentice and you receive an income equal to or less than 982.48 euros per month
The lump sum, corresponding to the basic amount for the calculation of the social benefit, of the activity bonus amounts to 553.71 euros per month since April 1. The amount obviously varies according to the level of resources and the composition of your household, here are other examples:
- For a single person with a dependent child: 830.57 euros
- For a single person with 2 dependent children: 996.68 euros
- For a couple without children: up to 830.57 euros.
The activity bonus may be increased depending on the family situation. The increase in the lump sum is established as follows:
- 50% for the first additional person;
- 30% per additional person;
- 40% per additional person beyond the 3e person, when the household includes more than 2 dependent children or persons under 25 years of age.
You must have “modest” income. The eligibility ceiling is set at 1,5 minimum wage. It is possible to combine the activity bonus with other aid, including that distributed by the Family Allowance Fund. Some of these aids, such as personalized housing assistance (APL), are directly integrated into the calculation, as “family benefits”. Others, such as the back-to-school allowance or the birth bonus, are not taken into account when calculating the amount of the bonus.
With regard to housing assistance, more specifically, the CAF establishes a “housing package” which is added to all the resources of the household. The APLs are integrated in the form of a flat rate subtracted from the amount of your activity bonus. This housing package amounts to 66.45 euros for a single person and 132.89 euros for a couple since April 1. Bear in mind that if you are unemployed and receive the Back-to-work allowance, the amount of this aid will be deducted from your rights to the activity bonus.
Students and apprentices can receive the activity bonus as soon as they receive professional income. Monthly income must be more than 982,48 euros.
Internship bonuses are not considered professional income. Trainees cannot therefore benefit from the activity bonus. “To be able to benefit from the activity bonus, the trainee must therefore have a sufficiently remunerated job alongside“, completes the dedicated public service site.
Self-employed workers can also benefit from the activity bonus. For this, the last declared annual turnover must be lower than certain ceilings. The resources taken into account each quarter for the calculation of the bonus are the industrial and commercial profits (BIC) and the non-commercial profits (BNC) declared to the tax authorities. In the absence of a BIC and BNC declaration, it is the quarterly turnover that is studied.
Yes. Single parents can benefit from an increase. This is the case when a parent is single, divorced, separated or widowed and has one or more dependent children. The amount may be increased from the month during which you declare a pregnancy, the birth or the care of a child. Note: this increase can be granted for twelve months. The amount depends on the number of dependent children. “The increased lump sum is equal to 128.412% of the basic lump sum. To this is added 42.804% of the basic lump sum for each child”, explains the service-public.fr site.
The activity bonus is calculated taking into account several types of resources: income from professional activity, from replacement (allocations unemployment for example), social benefits, capital or heritage income. Disability pensions and annuities, military pensions, employment accident and occupational disease annuities are also taken into account. For salaried workers, students and apprentices, the bonus is calculated on the basis of the income of the last 3 months. A declaration of resources must be made every quarter.
The detail of the calculation takes into account a fixed amount, equal to 553.71 euros, which varies according to the composition of your household, to which is added 61% of the amount of professional household income. It should be noted that this sum can be increased taking into account the income of each worker. It then takes into account the household’s resources, as well as any housing allowance (read above). The details of the calculation are as follows:
- A = (lump sum + bonus + 61% of income) – (household resources + family benefits + flat rate housing)
- B = lump sum – (income from work + other household resources + family benefits + flat rate housing)
If B is positive, then the activity bonus is equal to A – B. If B is negative, then the activity bonus is equal to A.