Legalstart states that the single flat-rate levy on dividends amounts to 31.4%, and that social levies on a portion of dividends are 18.6% in an SARL as in an SAS. Legalstart offers a comparison of social charges between the two forms, with a simulator.
In a company subject to corporate income tax, remuneration is a deductible expense against profit if it corresponds to actual work and is not excessive. Dividends, paid to the partners after profits have been taxed, follow a different logic: they distribute profit; they do not reduce it as an expense.
In an SAS, a paid president is treated as an employee, including in a single-shareholder SAS (SASU). The contributions of an SAS president and those of a paid minority or equal-share SARL manager are calculated on their remuneration.
The manager of a limited liability company (SARL) and the president of a simplified joint-stock company (SAS) may receive remuneration for their duties. Both hold a corporate office, which may be paid or unpaid.
Even without remuneration, the executive may remain liable for minimum contributions that notably confer pension rights.
A paid minority or equal-share manager is treated as an employee. The sole managing partner of a single-member limited liability company (EURL), by contrast, falls under the self-employed regime.
In an SARL, the social-security regime depends on the distribution of capital. A majority manager falls under the self-employed workers’ regime and contributes on that basis.
To determine majority status, the shares held by co-managers are added together. Two co-managers holding 25% and 35% of the capital respectively thus form a majority management.
This choice is not neutral for the cost of the executive. Social contributions, social protection and the treatment of dividends vary according to the legal form and, in an SARL, according to the share of capital held by the manager. The methods of setting remuneration are not the same. In an SARL, the manager’s remuneration is generally set by the partners. In an SAS, it is determined according to the procedures provided for in the articles of association.