Social Representative for a Non-Resident Employer
CONTEXT
If you are a foreign company without an establishment in France, you are considered a non-resident employer. If you would like to recruit an employee operating in France, you will be liable to pay certain French social contributions.
The French administration requires a local contact to reply to any correspondence related to social declarations. You can designate a contact residing in France to fulfill your reporting obligations and pay the social contributions due for your employees in France.
As an employer, you may appoint a representative to fulfill these social obligations. This representative will be personally liable for the prompt declaration and payment of the due balances.
It is worth noting that in France, the non-resident employer cannot appoint one of their own employees to act as a representative.
Even though Article L 243-1-2 of the Social Security Code does not provide criteria for the representative, the ruling made by the Court of Cassation on 9th February 2017 states that any agreement whereby an employer designates these obligations to an employee of his company is voided. Even if the employee is not the one paying the social contributions, the employer cannot transfer the responsibility of any obligations to this employee.
CONCLUSION
As a result, only a third party independent of the company may be appointed by a non-French employer to fulfill their social security obligations, including declaration and payment.
These declarations and payments must be made to a single collection agency, called “URSSAF du Bas-Rhin”, located in Strasbourg.
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