100 Euro Inflation Allowance: who can receive it and when?

The Inflation Allowance is an exceptional and individual aid of €100 paid to 38 million people living in France, to preserve their purchasing power in the face of the sharp increase in the cost of energy. This aid is paid in a single installment, and is not subject to any levy, the beneficiaries, except in certain special cases (employees with several employers, entertainment workers, freelancers...) have no steps to take.

The amending budget for 2021, which lays down the legal basis for the inflation allowance of 1€00, was published in Official Journal of 2 December 2021. The decree laying down the detailed rules was published in the Official Journal of 12 December 2021. The payment of the Inflation Allowance began on December 13 for the student scholarship holders.

Who is involved?

All persons over 16 years of age residing in France who have received, for the current period of 1^er from January to 31 October 2021, remuneration of less than €26,000 gross is concerned.

The persons concerned are:

• employees, including apprentices and beneficiaries of a professionalization contract;
• employees on short contracts, temporary agency workers, employees of private employers, frontier workers residing in France;
• public officials;
• self-employed persons;
• artist-writers;
• jobseekers and trainees in vocational training;
• persons with disabilities and recipients of social benefits;
• pensioners, including beneficiaries of survivors' pensions, minimum old-age pensions, early retirement pensions and asbestos early retirement pensions;
• scholarship-holders, non-scholarship-holders without activity and students receiving housing subsidies;
• young people seeking employment or accompanied by the public employment service (young people on a contractual path of support towards employment and independence or benefiting from the youth guarantee);
• apprentices and beneficiaries of a professionalization contract;
• young people on a pathway to employment, civic services, young people enrolled in institutions for integration into employment (EPIDE);
• beneficiaries of social minima (RSA, ASS, AAH, RSO, PreParE, ASI, ASPA, AIS, AVFS, AFIS, PreParE) including disabled workers in institutions and labor support services (ESAT).

What are the conditions for taking advantage of it?

The help of €100 be paid in one installment by their employer for employees and public officials and by the usual bodies:

• temporary company of work for temporary agency workers;
• the Urssaf for the self-employed, self-employed non-agricultural workers and employees of private employers;
• the pension fund for pensioners;
• pôle emploi for jobseekers;
• the Crous for students;
• the Family Allowance Fund (FCA) for beneficiaries of social minima;
• the funds of the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA) for farmers;
• Tax administration (DGFIP) for frontier workers residing in France.

Such assistance shall be individualized. If both members of a household earn less than €2,000 net per month, they both benefit from the aid.

When is the allowance paid?

The aid shall be paid to eligible persons as from December and no later than 28 February 2022.

Steps to be taken in specific cases

Employees who have several employers:

Individuals who have had more than one employer in October 2021 receive compensation from the primary employer, that is, the employer with whom the employment relationship is still ongoing, or failing that, the employer for whom they have worked the most hours in October. They must warn their other employers not to pay the premium.

Short-term employees:

For employees on short-term contracts (fixed-term contracts of less than 1 month) who accumulate several employment contracts in the same month, the payment of the inflation allowance by the employer is not automatic if they worked less than 20 hours in the month of October 2021. These employees must report to an employer and ask him to pay the inflation premium. With the person whose employment relationship is still ongoing or, failing that, the person for whom they worked the most hours during the month of October.

The payment is not automatic for entertainment workers, freelance professional journalists, public sector contractors and occasional public service employees. They must expressly report to one of the employers, preferably the one with whom the employment relationship is still ongoing, or failing that, the one for which they worked the most hours during the month of October.

Self-employed, self-employed and home-based workers must have communicated their bank details to the Urssaf. You just have to go to your personal account online and fill in your bank details. The procedure is carried out on:

• Urssaf.fr for self-employed persons;
• Autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr for self-employed entrepreneurs;
• Cesu.urssaf.fr or Pajeemploi.urssaf.fr for home-based employees.

Once these are known, the Urssaf will pay the inflation allowance at the end of January for home-based workers and by the beginning of February 2022 for self-employed and self-employed entrepreneurs.

What if you have received the inflation allowance several times?

Only one premium is provided for each eligible person. However, some beneficiaries who have several statuses: employees and micro-entrepreneurs, students and employees, employees with several employers, for example, may have received this premium several times.

The persons concerned may repay the overpaid inflation allowance by means of this form put online by the Directorate General of Public Finance (DGFIP).