Artist-author: affiliation and social regime

Verified 20 January 2026 - Entreprendre Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The artist-author receives artistic income associated with the creation of works of the mind, whether in the field of writers, music composers, graphic and visual arts, cinema and audiovisual, photography, or even software. As such, it benefits from a special social regime, the Social Security for Artists and Authors (specialized branch of the general scheme for employees).

The tasks of the Social Security for Artists-Authors will gradually be transferred to the Urssaf, which is already responsible for collecting contributions.

Affiliation to the Social security for artists-authors (SSAA) intervenes from the declaration of activity or as soon as a third party (e.g. publisher, producer, collective management organization) pays copyright.

In concrete terms, after the declaration of the start of activity on the website of the company formalities window or as a result of withholding tax carried out by a third party, the Social Security of Artist-Authors verifies, within 2 months, that the activity falls within the scope of the artist-author. If this is the case, a letter attesting to membership of the scheme is sent to the person concerned.

The Social Security for Author-Artists provides support and information on rights and procedures in the field of social protection, benefits and assistance.

Who shall I contact

  • By phone

    Monday to Friday: from 9am to 5pm

    0 806 804 208 (price of a local call)

    By mail

    http://www.secu-artistes-auteurs.fr/contact

    By post

    60 rue du Faubourg Poissonnière

    75010 Paris

FYI  

From 1er April 2026, theUrssaf: titleContent will be competent for pronounce affiliation artists-authors. The steps to create an activity must always be carried out beforehand on the one-stop shop of formalities of the companies, but the information will be transmitted to the Urssaf which will have to check that the activity falls under the regime of artists-authors. For artists-authors subject to the withholding tax, affiliation to this scheme will automatically remain based on the declarations made by the broadcasters.

From 1er June 2026, the Urssaf will also become thecontact person for social action requests.

The Social Security Financing Act for 2026 (No. 2025-1403 of December 30, 2025) provides for the evolution of the Social Security for Artists-Authors into the National Council for the Social Protection of Artists-Authors. This body will be responsible for representing artists-authors vis-à-vis the public authorities and for defining guidelines for social action. The tasks currently carried out by the Social Security for Artists-Authors (management of applications for affiliation and applications for social action) will thus be transferred to the Urssaf du Limousin, which is already responsible for collecting contributions.

The majority of the artist-author's income is subject to social security scheme for artist-authors. It is necessary to distinguish between main and ancillary income.

Main artistic revenues

All income derived from an author's artistic activity is covered by the social security scheme for artist-authors. This includes income from the following activities :

  • Exercise or assignment of copyright : remuneration paid for the exploitation of a work in the context of its reproduction or representation
  • Sale or rental of original works, including income from research into crowdfunding in return for a work of equivalent value
  • Sale of copies of the work which the artist himself reproduces or disseminates (self-distribution or self-publishing)
  • Presentation of a prize or an award for a work : in the context of a competition, for example
  • Award of scholarships the purpose of which is to design, produce a work or produce an exhibition, participate in a competition or respond to public or private orders and calls for projects (research grants, creative grants, production grants, residency grants, etc.)
  • Residences of design or production of works
  • Participation in a jury with a work of selection or pre-selection with a view to awarding a prize or an award to an artist-author
  • Public Reading one or more works by the artist-author, presentation of one or more of his works, including the presentation of the creation process
  • Dedication with the creation of a work
  • Design and animation from an original editorial collection.

Miscellaneous income

Ancillary income is remuneration derived from activities carried out as an extension of an artistic activity. This income is also subject to the social security scheme for artist-authors.

Miscellaneous income is income from following activities :

  • Public meetings and debates unrelated to the work: no reading, no presentation of the work or its creative process and no creative dedication
  • Course data in the artist's studio or transmission of his know-how to his peers
  • Artistic or writing workshops
  • Participation in the design, development or shaping of the work of another artist-author which does not constitute an act of original creation
  • Participation in governance bodies in his/her professional field (e.g. participation in a board of directors ofIrcec: titleContent or SSAA: titleContent).

Ancillary remuneration must be separately declared other income in the annual social declaration. In addition, the artist-author must have previously collected and declared a principal artistic income for the current year or one of the 2 previous years.

Ancillary income is covered by the authors' social security scheme within the limit of a ceiling, set at 1 200 times the hourly minimum wage applicable to 1er January of the current year. Thus, the annual amount of ancillary income received must not exceed €14,424. Compensation received for participation in governance bodies does not count towards the calculation of this ceiling.

If the ceiling is exceeded, ancillary income will be subject to the self-employed workers' scheme, and this from 1er euro of excess share that ceiling.

The declaration of artistic income and the payment of social contributions and contributions of the artist-author are made with theUrssaf Limousin.

Annual income tax return

Each year, the artist-author must declare his artistic income from the past year and pay the corresponding social contributions to the Urssaf Limousin.

Whatever its situation, social declaration is indispensable. It is used by the Urssaf to calculate thesocial base and the opening up of its social rights.

The artist-author is informed by email of the tax return period for 2025.

Since 1er January 2026, artists-authors must file their return and pay their contributions by electronic means. A derogation is possible, however, if the artist-author is unable to make his declaration or payments by this means.

The social declaration must always be consistent with the tax return.

Declare your income to the Urssaf (artists-authors)

Please note

The income (principal and ancillary) and the nature of the associated work must be provided, in Step 2 of the return, from a drop-down list. Urssaf provides clarification How to report your different types of income.

Determination of the social security contribution base

The procedures for reporting and calculating the social base depend on the artist's tax system: non-commercial profits (NCB) and/or salaries and wages (TS). Only copyright paid by third parties (publisher, producer, collective management organization) can be declared in salaries and wages.

The basis for calculating the contributions depends on the nature of the artistic income received:

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Non-Commercial Earnings (NCB)

Social contributions and contributions must be paid to Urssaf every 3 months (15 January, 15 April, 15 July and 15 October).

To attest to this with third parties (publishers, producers, collective management organizations), an administrative certificate is then issued by the Urssaf. A copy of this document must be sent to each of the third parties concerned.

As part of the micro-BNC regime, thesocial base corresponds to amount of turnover declared to the Urssaf. One abatement from 34%, then a mark-up 15%, shall be applied.

Example :

For a declaration of €10,000 at the Urssaf, the social base is set at €7,590.

Within the framework of the BNC scheme (controlled declaration), the tax base corresponds to the amount of profit (or deficit) declared to the Urssaf. One mark-up 15% is applied to profit.

Example :

For a reported benefit of €10,000 at the Urssaf, the social base is set at €11,500.

Salaries and wages (TS)

The third party (publishers, producers, collective management organizations) pre-count social contributions on remuneration and remit the sums directly to the Urssaf.

Concretely, the withholding tax corresponds to the deduction made from the remuneration by the third party responsible for paying the social security contributions. As such, a withholding tax certification contributions is remitted by this third party and must be retained.

In salaries and wages, thesocial base corresponds to gross amount before tax of income declared to the Urssaf.

Example :

For a reported benefit of €10,000 at the Urssaf, the social base is set at €10,000.

Mixed regime (BNC + TS)

For income declared for tax purposes in salaries and wages, third parties (publishers, producers, collective management organizations) withhold social security contributions at the time of remuneration and pay the sums directly to the Urssaf.

Concretely, the withholding tax corresponds to the deduction made from the remuneration by the third party responsible for paying social security contributions. A certificate of advance payment of contributions is given by this third party and must be kept.

In salaries and wages, the social base corresponds to gross amount excluding income taxes declared to the Urssaf.

Example :

For a declaration of €10,000 of benefit to the Urssaf, the social base is €10,000.

At the same time, for income declared for tax purposes under non-commercial profits (NCB), social contributions and contributions must be paid to the Urssaf every 3 months (15 January, 15 April, 15 July and 15 October).

To attest to this with third parties (publishers, producers, collective management organizations), an administrative certificate is then issued by the Urssaf. A copy of this document must be sent to each third party.

Within the framework of the BNC scheme (controlled declaration), the social base corresponds to the amount of the profit (or deficit) declared to the Urssaf. A surcharge of 15% is applied to profit.

Example :

For a benefit of €10,000 declared to the Urssaf, the social base is €11,500.

Within the framework of the micro-BNC regime, thesocial base corresponds to the amount of revenue declared to the Urssaf. One abatement from 34%, then a mark-up from 15% are applied.

Example :

For a beneficiary of €10,000 declared to the Urssaf, the social base is €7,590.

Thus, theoverall social base of the artist-author corresponds to the sum of the 2 social bases (BNC + TS).

Calculation of social security contributions

Once the social base has been determined, the amount of contributions to be paid is calculated after application of rates to the income of each year:

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Revenues 2025

For 2025 revenues, the rate applicable are:

  • Social security : 0.40% (fully supported by the State)
  • Capped old-age insurance : 6.90% (of which 0.75% supported by the State). The social base is limited to €47,100. The contribution is therefore at most €2,896.65 in respect of 2025 revenues
  • Generalized social contribution (CSG): 9.20% (of which 6.80% tax deductible)
  • Contribution to the repayment of social debt (CRDS): 0.50%
  • Contribution to continuing vocational training (MFF): 0.35%

Please note

CSG and CRDS are calculated on 98.25% of the social base if the remuneration of the artist-author does not exceed 4 times the annual social security ceiling, that is to say €188,400 in 2025. They are calculated on 100% of the part exceeding that ceiling.

Revenues 2026

For 2026 revenues, the rate applicable are:

  • Social security : 0.40% (fully supported by the State)
  • Capped old-age insurance : 6.90% (of which 0.75% supported by the State). The social base is limited to €48,060. The contribution is therefore at most €2,955.69 in respect of 2025 revenues.
  • Generalized social contribution (CSG): 9.20% (of which 6.80% tax deductible)
  • Contribution to the repayment of social debt (CRDS): 0.50%
  • Contribution to continuing vocational training (MFF): 0.35%

Please note

CSG and CRDS are calculated on 98.25% of the social base if the remuneration of the artist-author does not exceed 4 times the annual ceiling of the social security, that is to say €192,240 in 2026. They are calculated on 100% of the part exceeding that ceiling.

Artists-authors are affiliated with the social security scheme for artist-authors, attached to the general scheme.

This affiliation allows them to benefit from the same social insurance benefits as those granted to employees.

On the other hand, they are subject to the social protection of the self-employed in respect of accidents at work or unemployment insurance.

They also benefit from a specific supplementary pension scheme.

Health, maternity, paternity, disability and death insurance

The artist-author benefits from the coverage of his care costs as a result of exercising a professional activity on French territory.

It also benefits of daily allowances in the event of interruption of his activity (due to sickness, maternity/paternity or invalidity), provided that he is up to date with the payment of his contributions and that he has earned at least equal income in a calendar year to €7,212.

Loss of employment

The status of artist-author does not allow not access to unemployment benefits, his income not being treated as wages. However, if he meets the conditions, he can benefit from theself-employed workers' allowance.

FYI  

France Travail offers specific support, the Artist-Author Journey, for artists-authors who are beneficiaries of the RSA. To learn more about this device, visit the site page France Labor.

Basic retirement

The contributions paid by the artist-author allow him to validate retirement quarters. To validate 4 quarters it must justify revenues at least equal, in a calendar year, to €7,212.

Please note

Quarters are added together during the entire professional career, to constitute the duration of insurance. It is not possible to validate more than 4 quarters per year.

Compulsory supplementary pension

Membership in the general scheme as an artist-author, regardless of the professional branch, entails membership in one or more supplementary pension schemes managed by the Institution for Supplementary Retirement Education and Creation (IRCEC).

All artist-authors are affiliated to a common system: Professional Artist-Author Scheme (RAAP), provided that their artistic income received in the previous calendar year (year N–1) was at least equal to €10,692.

Below this threshold, membership in the RAAP is optional and is carried out at the request of the artist-author.

Depending on the nature of his activity, the artist can also raise one of the following schemes:

  • Regime for Dramatic Authors and Composers (RACD): from 1er euro of copyright collected through an audiovisual or live performance activity
  • Regime of lyrical authors and composers (RACL): for authors and composers of musical works and dubbing dialogists who have reached the affiliation threshold. To contribute to the RACL in 2026, the 2025 copyright must have reached €3,170.46.

THEIrcec: titleContent makes available a tool for determining, according to the activity, the supplementary pension plan to which the artist-author is affiliated.

Please note

One guide to the supplementary retreat for artists-authors may also be consulted.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • By email (email)

    https://www.artistes-auteurs.urssaf.fr/aa/accueil

    By post

    Urssaf Limousin

    Pole artists-authors - TSA 70009

    93517 MONTREUIL CEDEX

  • By phone

    Monday to Friday: from 9am to 5pm

    0 806 804 208 (price of a local call)

    By mail

    http://www.secu-artistes-auteurs.fr/contact

    By post

    60 rue du Faubourg Poissonnière

    75010 Paris

  • Supplementary pension for teaching and creation (Ircec)

FAQ