French payroll: brut, net & prélèvement à la source
How a French salary goes from brut to net through cotisations sociales, then how income tax is withheld at source (PAS) — and the three different "net" figures on your payslip.
6 min read · Updated 2026-06-14
A French payslip is famously dense, and the gap between the salaire bruton your contract and the money in your account is wide — often a quarter of the headline figure disappears before you ever see income tax. This guide walks the journey from brut to net, and explains the prélèvement à la source that now collects income tax directly from your pay.
Step 1: brut to net (social contributions)
The biggest deduction in France is not income tax — it is cotisations sociales, the social contributions that fund pensions, healthcare, unemployment and family benefits. They come off your salaire brut first, taking roughly 22% for a non-managerial employee and a little more for a cadre (manager). What remains after these is your net — or more precisely your net à payer avant impôt. Our companion guide on French social charges breaks these down line by line.
Step 2: income tax at source (prélèvement à la source)
Since 2019, French income tax is withheld directly from your pay under the prélèvement à la source(PAS). Your employer applies a rate — either a personalised rate sent by the tax authority based on your household, or a neutral default rate — to your net imposable(taxable net). This is why your payslip shows a further deduction after social contributions. Because the rate reflects your whole household’s situation, two colleagues on the same salary can have different take-home depending on family circumstances — the quotient familial.
The three “net” figures to know
- Net à payer avant impôt— after social contributions, before income tax.
- Net imposable— the figure income tax is calculated on (slightly higher than net à payer, because some contributions like part of the CSG/CRDS are not deductible).
- Net payé— what actually hits your account, after PAS is withheld.
Confusing the first and the last is the most common French-payslip mistake.
See it for your salary
The France take-home pay calculatorruns the full chain — cotisations sociales, CSG/CRDS, the 10% deduction, and PAS at the marginal rate — so you can see brut → net for any figure, such as a €50,000 salary. For the contributions behind the brut-to-net step, read French social charges explained. Rates change; confirm the current values before relying on a number.