Budgeting
You can set up the French employer social charges for 2026 once, apply them to every wage account, cap them per paid day and save them as presets.
In France the employer pays several charges on every wage: the contributions to the *URSSAF* (the body that collects social security contributions), unemployment insurance, and the supplementary pension and provident insurance that *Audiens* collects. *Audiens* is the social protection group of the culture sector. For *intermittents du spectacle*, crew and performers hired per production on a fixed-term *CDD d'usage*, the employer also pays the holiday fund *Congés Spectacles*. Several of these charges stop at a ceiling, the *plafond*. The rates are the 2026 values, as of 3 October 2026.
This article is not payroll advice. Have your payroll office confirm the accident insurance rate (AT/MP) notified by the *Carsat* (the regional fund for occupational risks). Have Audiens confirm the rates for supplementary pension, provident insurance and Congés Spectacles.
Under **New Budget**, the templates `CNC Détaillé 2026` and `CNC Détaillé 2026 Salaires avec phases` already contain the collect-in accounts of step 1 and the groups of steps 2 and 3 with their presets, except `FR 2026 Permanents`.
In both templates every position has its own account. The templates contain three groups for cadres (crew with executive status), by daily wage: `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres jusqu'à 300 €/j`, `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres jusqu'à 500 €/j` and `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres plus de 500 €/j`. They also contain `FR 2026 Techniciens non-cadres` (collect-in account 441), `FR 2026 Artistes` (451), `FR 2026 Auteurs` (411), `FR 2026 Réalisateur` (431) and `FR 2026 Producteurs` (421). The director and producer groups have the same rows as the cadres group above 500 € a day. In the second template, the wage accounts of crew and cast are split into the subaccounts Préparation, Tournage and Fin de tournage. You still need to:
- create the premiums of step 4, with an account of their own to collect in, because neither template contains them - check the rows that depend on your company (the notes under steps 2 and 3) - apply the groups (step 5) - enter the timebase and the factor (step 6)
The templates hold the minimum wages as variables, that is, as named values, in the groups **Minima techniciens 2026**, **Minima journaliers 2026**, **Minima annexe III 2026** and **Minima artistes 2026**. Each crew position has three variables, for example for `DirecteurPhotographie`: `DirecteurPhotographie` is the weekly wage for 39 hours (Annexe I of the agreement). `DirecteurPhotographie_J` is the daily wage, only for an engagement of less than five days. `DirecteurPhotographie_A3` is the wage of Annexe III, for feature films with small budgets and only with the consent of the commission paritaire (the joint committee of the social partners). From five days on, budget weeks at the weekly wage: 10 days are 2 weeks.
Create one account per category of the CNC budget, for example **Charges sociales équipe technique**, **Charges sociales artistes** and **Charges sociales auteurs**. For every fringe below, choose the account of its category as **Collect In Budget Account**. See [how collect-in accounts work](/kb/article/how-collect-in-accounts-work).
In the account details, click  **Settings for account details** and then **Fringes & Supplements**. On the **Fringes** tab, click  **Group** and name the group `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres plus de 500 €/j`. *Cadres* are crew with executive status, such as the director of photography. The limits are explained below the table. Then click  **Fringe** once for each row of this table:
| Fringe Name | Percentage | Limit Per Day | Covers | | ----------------------------- | ---------- | ------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | Maladie | 13.00 | empty | health insurance | | Vieillesse déplafonnée | 2.11 | empty | state pension, on the whole wage | | Vieillesse plafonnée | 8.55 | 18.81 | state pension, up to the ceiling | | Allocations familiales | 5.25 | empty | family allowances | | Accidents du travail | 1.50 | empty | accident insurance | | Chômage et AGS | 9.75 | 85.80 | unemployment and wage guarantee insurance | | Retraite complémentaire cadre | 13.64 | 239.90 | supplementary pension | | Prévoyance cadre | 1.69 | 3.72 | provident insurance and health fund | | Thalie Santé | 0.42 | empty | occupational health for intermittents | | Formation professionnelle | 2.10 | empty | vocational training | | Autres contributions | 1.25 | empty | small contributions, see below | | Congés Spectacles | 15.50 | empty | holiday fund |
In **Collect In Budget Account**, choose the crew's charges account on every row. From the second row on, KOSMA asks first, because the account already collects other rows:
Add to collection account? This account already collects other calculations. Add this one to it?
Click **Continue**. Then create two more cadres groups with the same twelve rows. Only the percentage of **Retraite complémentaire cadre** differs: `10.71` in `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres jusqu'à 500 €/j` and `7.97` in `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres jusqu'à 300 €/j`. The limit stays `239.90`. Then create the group `FR 2026 Techniciens non-cadres`, again with the twelve rows, but replace two of them: **Retraite complémentaire non-cadre** `5.23` without a limit replaces the cadre row, and **Prévoyance non-cadre** `1.11` with a limit of `2.44` replaces **Prévoyance cadre**. The section on supplementary pension below explains why there are three cadres groups.
- **Accidents du travail**: enter the rate that the Carsat notified to your company. The collective rate for intermittents in 2026 is 1.50 % (risk class 92.3AD). - **Chômage et AGS**: 9.50 % unemployment insurance plus 0.25 % AGS, for a CDD d'usage of up to three months. For a longer contract, enter `9.25` with a limit of `81.40`. - **Retraite complémentaire**: if your company is a member of one of the trade associations UPC, AFPF, AnimFrance or FICAM, Audiens charges technicians 10.16 % on T1 (the part of the daily wage up to 220 €). Enter these rates in place of the table values; they already include the higher T1 rate: `6.37` for non-cadres, and for cadres `8.81` in the group up to 300 € a day, `11.21` up to 500 € and `13.78` above 500 €. The limit is then `242.41`. - **Autres contributions**: the CSA (solidarity contribution for long-term care), the contribution to social dialogue, the FNAL (housing fund), the apprenticeship tax and its balance, and the branch contributions of cinema. **Percentage** takes only two decimals, too coarse for each of these small rates alone, so they share one row. The table value is for cinema with fewer than 50 employees. For television, enter `1.22`. With 50 employees or more, enter `1.65` for cinema and `1.63` for television. - **Thalie Santé**: 0.35 % plus VAT, which is the 0.42 % of the table. - **Congés Spectacles**: 15.50 % for wages from 1 January 2026 to 31 March 2027. The production does not pay holiday pay to intermittents; the holiday fund pays it. - With 11 employees or more, you also pay the *versement mobilité* (a transport levy) of your locality and the *forfait social*, 8 % on the employer's provident contribution. Ask your payroll office for the amounts.
In 2026 the *plafond de la sécurité sociale* is 4,005 € a month and 220 € a day. For unemployment insurance and AGS the ceiling is four times as high, 880 € a day. Audiens uses 220 € a paid day for T1 and for provident insurance. **Limit Per Day** is the highest charge per day in euros, so each limit is the rate times the ceiling per day:
If you enter the daily ceiling itself, for example 220, KOSMA caps the fringe at the wrong amount and shows no message.
Your payroll office spreads the monthly ceiling over the calendar days. For intermittents, it may spread it over the paid days instead. For a contract of whole weeks, both give less than 220 € a paid day. KOSMA uses 220 €, so the budget is on the safe side.
Audiens splits the daily wage of a cadre into two parts. Up to 220 € a paid day (T1), the employer pays 5.23 %. On the part from 220 € to 1,760 € (T2), the employer pays 14.57 %. Cadres also pay the CET (a pension balancing contribution) and the APEC (the executives' employment agency). The higher the wage, the higher the rate on the whole wage. A row in KOSMA, though, applies one fixed rate to the whole wage, up to its limit. There are therefore three cadres groups. In each, **Retraite complémentaire cadre** uses the rate that is right at the top of its range:
- up to 300 € a day or 1,500 € a week: 7.97 % - up to 500 € a day or 2,500 € a week: 10.71 % - above that: 13.64 %
Choose the group by the wage including the premiums of step 4. The limit of 239.90 € is the full charge at 1,760 € a day. For wages below the top of the range, this row is too high, by at most about 3 percentage points. One exception: if a calendar month has more than 18 paid days, Audiens caps T1 at 4,005 €. In the groups up to 300 € and up to 500 €, this row can then be up to 1.5 points too low. Vieillesse plafonnée and Prévoyance cadre are then too high by more than that shortfall, so the total of the charges is never too low.
Create the group `FR 2026 Artistes`. For *artistes du spectacle* (actors, musicians, dancers), several URSSAF rates are 70 % of the standard rate. Technicians do not get these reduced rates.
| Fringe Name | Percentage | Limit Per Day | | ------------------------------- | ---------- | ------------- | | Maladie | 9.10 | empty | | Vieillesse déplafonnée | 1.48 | empty | | Vieillesse plafonnée | 5.99 | 21.56 | | Allocations familiales | 3.68 | empty | | Accidents du travail | 1.05 | empty | | Chômage et AGS | 9.75 | empty | | Retraite complémentaire artiste | 5.74 | empty | | Prévoyance non-cadre | 1.11 | 2.44 | | Thalie Santé | 0.42 | empty | | Formation professionnelle | 2.10 | empty | | Autres contributions | 1.22 | empty | | Congés Spectacles | 15.50 | empty |
- **Accidents du travail**: 70 % of your company's rate. - **Vieillesse plafonnée**: for an engagement under five days, the ceiling is 12 × 30 € = 360 € per working day (12 hours at the hourly ceiling of 30 €). The limit is therefore 5.99 % × 360. From five days on, the timebase stays empty (step 6), so the limit has no effect. - **Autres contributions**: for television, enter `1.19`. With 50 employees or more, enter `1.50`, and for television `1.48`.
Create the group `FR 2026 Auteurs` with one row: Contribution diffuseur, `1.10`, no limit, collected in the authors' account. On fees to authors, the producer pays 1 % for social security and 0.10 % for training.
For staff on a *CDI* (permanent contract) or a *CDD de droit commun* (ordinary fixed-term contract), create the group `FR 2026 Permanents`. Copy the rows of the crew group for their status. For cadres use the group above 500 € a day. Leave out **Thalie Santé** and **Congés Spectacles**, and change these rows:
| Fringe Name | Percentage | Limit Per Day | | ----------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | | Vieillesse plafonnée | 8.55 | 11.42 | | Accidents du travail | the rate the Carsat notified for permanent staff | empty | | Chômage et AGS | 4.25 | 22.70 | | Retraite complémentaire cadre | 13.64 | 145.58 | | Prévoyance cadre | 1.50, the minimum for cadres | 2.01 | | Formation professionnelle | 0.55 under 11 employees, otherwise 1.00; on a CDD, add 1.00 | empty | | Autres contributions | 1.18, including the branch contributions of cinema | empty |
For permanent staff, the limits use the monthly ceiling per calendar day: 4,005 € ÷ 30 = 133.50 €. For example, 8.55 % × 133.50 € = 11.42 €, rounded up. For a non-cadre, enter the rate of your company's provident insurance contract in **Prévoyance non-cadre**. For a non-cadre who earns more than 4,005 € a month, enter `13.64` with a limit of `145.58` in **Retraite complémentaire non-cadre**.
On the **Supplements** tab, create a group, for example `FR 2026 Cinéma`, and enter the premiums of your *convention collective* (the collective agreement of the sector). **Markup On Wage %** holds the premium. **Worktime %** is how much of normal working time you expect at the premium: `10` on a 39-hour week means 3.9 hours at the premium. In **Collect In Budget Account**, choose the account for the premiums on every row. The values below follow the cinema convention (IDCC 3097), under which the weekly wage of a technician covers 39 hours.
| Supplement Name | Markup On Wage % | Worktime % | | ----------------------------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | | Heures sup. 40e à 43e heure | 125 | 10 | | Heures sup. 44e à 48e heure | 150 | 5 | | Heures sup. au-delà de la 48e | 175 | 2 | | Au-delà de la 10e heure de tournage | 100 | 5 | | 6e jour travaillé | 200 | 4 | | Nuit, 8 premières heures | 50 | 10 | | Nuit, au-delà de la 8e heure | 100 | 2 | | Dimanche | 100 | 4 | | Jour férié | 100 | 4 |
The hours of the 6th day belong in the row 6e jour travaillé only. Do not count them again in the weekly overtime rows.
Overtime and the 6th day lie beyond the 39 hours of the weekly wage, so they carry the full hour plus the premium. The weekly wage already pays night, Sunday and public holiday hours, so those rows carry the premium alone. The overtime rows already count the hours beyond the 10th shooting hour, so that row carries the additional 100 % alone. A worked public holiday also earns a paid day off of 7 hours. Budget it as an extra day in the quantity.
The convention caps the premiums that add up on the same hour at +100 % in total. The cap does not cover the legal overtime premiums of 25 % and 50 % (in the rows with 125 and 150), or 1 May. KOSMA adds every ticked row and does not apply the cap. The budget is then on the safe side.
For television, create a second group, for example `FR 2026 Télévision`. The convention of audiovisual production (IDCC 2642) applies. These premiums follow its consolidated text of 2018. Enter **Worktime %** as you expect it, as in the cinema group:
| Supplement Name | Markup On Wage % | | ----------------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | | Heures sup. 1re à 8e (CDD d'usage) | 125 | | Heures sup. à partir de la 9e | 150 | | Dimanche | 50 | | Nuit | 25 | | 1er mai | 200 | | 1er janv., 14 juil., 15 août, 1er et 11 nov., 25 déc. | 100 | | Lundi de Pâques, 8 mai, Ascension | 50 |
For a contract under five days, replace the row Heures sup. 1re à 8e with two rows based on hours of the working day, not overtime hours: `125` for the 9th to 11th hour, `150` for the 12th hour. For construction, lighting and stage crews, add a row with `200` from the 13th hour and change the markup of the row Nuit to `50`. Click **Ok**.
Select the wage accounts of the crew cadres that belong to one of the three cadres groups, for example all accounts above 500 € a day (see [work in the budget grid](/kb/article/work-in-the-budget-grid)). You can edit accounts together only if none of them has fringes or supplements yet, or if they match in every setting of this dialog. In the account details, click  **Edit fringes & supplements** in the **Fringes & Supplements** panel. KOSMA opens the dialog and shows how many rows it applies to:
Applies to {number} rows.
On the **Fringes** tab, tick the matching cadres group, for example `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres plus de 500 €/j`. If the account has subaccounts, also tick **All** under **Apply to subaccounts**.
On the **Supplements** tab, tick **All** there too if the account has subaccounts. Then tick the premiums that apply and, last, **Automatically add wage fringes to supplements**.
If you do not tick **Automatically add wage fringes to supplements**, KOSMA calculates no social charges on the premiums.
Click **Ok**. KOSMA copies these settings to every selected account. Repeat this for the other two cadres groups and for non-cadres, artistes, authors and permanent staff.
Apply the groups before you enter the days in step 6. Once the timebases differ, the accounts no longer carry the same content.
For each crew member, click  **Edit fringes & supplements** and enter the paid days in **Timebase (days) for fringe limits**: shooting days and paid preparation days. Without a timebase, KOSMA does not apply the limits and calculates every charge on the full wage.
- In an account budgeted in days, enter `ACCOUNT_QTY`, the account's quantity, which is its number of days. In an account budgeted in weeks of five working days, enter `ACCOUNT_QTY * 5`. - If the subaccounts are the phases of one person, the account's own quantity is 0, so `ACCOUNT_QTY` would give 0. Add up the quantities of subaccounts 1, 2 and 3 instead: in weeks `(SUBACCOUNT_QTY("1")+SUBACCOUNT_QTY("2")+SUBACCOUNT_QTY("3"))*5`, in days `SUBACCOUNT_QTY("1")+SUBACCOUNT_QTY("2")+SUBACCOUNT_QTY("3")`. In **CNC Détaillé 2026 Salaires avec phases**, every crew account already carries the formula in weeks. For the cast, the two bullets on artistes below apply. - If several people are listed in the subaccounts of one account, as in budgets from the earlier template `FR_CNC_Detaille_2018`, enter the sum of their paid days. The budget can then be too high, but never too low. - For an artiste engaged for less than five days, enter the days of the engagement. - For an artiste engaged for five days or more, leave the timebase empty. KOSMA then calculates the charges on the whole fee, and the budget is on the safe side. - For permanent staff, enter the calendar days. In an account budgeted in months, that is `ACCOUNT_QTY * 30`.
On a CDD de droit commun, the employee gets 10 % end-of-contract pay and then 10 % holiday pay on the total. Enter `1.21` in the **X** column of that account, because 1.10 × 1.10 = 1.21. KOSMA calculates `Quantity × Price/Unit × X` and calculates every social charge on that total. Intermittents on a CDD d'usage get neither payment, so their **X** stays empty.
Select a single wage account and click  **Edit fringes & supplements**. Under **Select preset...**, choose **Save as Preset**, enter `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres plus de 500 €/j` and click **Ok**. Then click **Ok** in the dialog as well. The preset holds the fringes only: for the supplements, save a second preset, for example `FR 2026 Cinéma`, on the **Supplements** tab. Save a preset for each of the other groups in the same way.
**Apply Preset** appears only if an account has every subaccount named in the preset. For an account you add later, click  **Apply Preset** in its account details and tick the fringe preset and the supplement preset. See [save and reuse a fringe preset](/kb/article/save-and-reuse-a-fringe-preset).
The presets contain neither the timebase nor **Automatically add wage fringes to supplements**, and applying a preset leaves the ticks under **Apply to subaccounts** as they were. An empty timebase, or `0`, means no cap.
After you apply a preset, click  **Edit fringes & supplements**, check the ticks under **Apply to subaccounts** on both tabs if the account has subaccounts, enter the days and tick the checkbox on the **Supplements** tab.
An actress works 2 days at 1,000 € each, 2,000 € in total, in an engagement of 2 days. The timebase is `2`. Only these two rows of `FR 2026 Artistes` have a limit.
| Fringe | Without timebase | Timebase 2 | | -------------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | | Vieillesse plafonnée | 119.80 € | 43.12 € | | Prévoyance non-cadre | 22.20 € | 4.88 € | | Total of both rows | 142.00 € | 48.00 € |
A director of photography (*chef opérateur*), cadre, on a CDD d'usage from 1 to 26 June 2026: four weeks Monday to Friday, 20 paid days, 26 calendar days. The weekly wage is 3,000 € including premiums, 12,000 € in total. The company has fewer than 11 employees. The daily wage is 600 €, so the group is `FR 2026 Techniciens cadres plus de 500 €/j`. The timebase is `20`.
| Fringe | KOSMA, 20 days | Payroll | | ----------------------------- | -------------- | ---------- | | Maladie | 1,560.00 € | 1,560.00 € | | Vieillesse déplafonnée | 253.20 € | 253.20 € | | Vieillesse plafonnée | 376.20 € | 296.77 € | | Allocations familiales | 630.00 € | 630.00 € | | Accidents du travail | 180.00 € | 180.00 € | | Chômage et AGS | 1,170.00 € | 1,170.00 € | | Retraite complémentaire cadre | 1,636.80 € | 1,403.85 € | | Prévoyance cadre | 74.40 € | 67.68 € | | Thalie Santé | 50.40 € | 50.40 € | | Formation professionnelle | 252.00 € | 252.00 € | | Autres contributions | 150.00 € | 141.35 € | | Congés Spectacles | 1,860.00 € | 1,860.00 € | | Total | 8,193.00 € | 7,865.25 € |
The payroll office spreads the monthly ceiling over the calendar days: 4,005 € ÷ 30 × 26 = 3,471.00 €. Audiens takes 220 € × 20 = 4,400 € for T1 and provident insurance, but caps it at 4,005 € a month. KOSMA multiplies its limits by 20 paid days, without that cap.
KOSMA is 327.75 € higher, 2.7 % of the wage. Every difference is on the high side:
- 232.95 € from the one rate of the group for T1 and T2 (step 2) - 79.43 € from the ceiling of 4,400 € in place of 3,471 € - 8.65 € from FNAL without a ceiling and the rounding to two decimals - 6.72 € from the monthly maximum of provident insurance
The payroll office's calculation decides what is paid.
The cause is a subaccount without a tick under **Apply to subaccounts**: its wage is not part of the base. A new subaccount always starts without a tick. Accounts can also keep their own ticks when you apply a group to several at once. KOSMA then shows:
{number} of the selected accounts kept their own subaccount fringe settings.
Open the dialog of each of these accounts, tick the subaccounts and click **Ok**.
**If the charges of a crew member are not capped.** The account has no timebase, or the timebase is `0`. This happens after a preset, or when `ACCOUNT_QTY` is used in an account with subaccounts. Enter the paid days as a number or as the sum of the subaccounts (step 6). The rows with a limit then show the capped amounts.
The selected accounts do not carry exactly the same fringes, supplements, timebase or subaccount ticks. In place of  **Edit fringes & supplements**, the panel shows:
Mixed contents · Click ↺ to reset
Resetting removes all fringes and supplements from every selected account.
Click  **Reset fringes & supplements** and confirm. KOSMA then offers **Edit fringes & supplements** again.
**Sources.** - Rates and ceilings 2026: URSSAF, taux de cotisations secteur privé, plafonds de la Sécurité sociale, taux réduits des artistes du spectacle; arrêté du 24 janvier 1975. - Proration of the ceiling for intermittents: BOSS, assiette générale, § 1090. - Unemployment insurance and AGS: Unédic, paramètres utiles avril 2026; France Travail. - Supplementary pension, provident insurance, ceilings per day and Congés Spectacles: Audiens, paramètres 2026, and fiche retraite complémentaire 2026; Agirc-Arrco, barème 2026. - Branch contributions and Thalie Santé: Audiens, webconference of 27 January 2026; Thalie Santé. - Accident insurance: arrêté du 30 décembre 2025, risk class 92.3AD. - Training and apprenticeship tax: AFDAS, contributions 2026; URSSAF; net-entreprises, fiche 2504. - Authors: URSSAF, diffuseurs; Sécurité sociale des artistes-auteurs. - Forfait social: URSSAF. - Permanent staff: ANI du 17 novembre 2017 (prévoyance des cadres); Code du travail, L1242-16 and L1243-8. - Premiums: convention collective nationale de la production cinématographique (IDCC 3097), articles 36 to 42, with its amendments up to 2024; convention collective nationale de la production audiovisuelle (IDCC 2642), consolidated on 1 July 2018.
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