French AGESSA Declaration — Artist-Author Contributions 2026

Any artist-author whose artistic income reaches the affiliation threshold — set at 900 times the gross hourly SMIC (France's statutory minimum wage), approximately €10,800 in 2026 — must affiliate with the Sécurité sociale des artistes-auteurs and file an annual declaration with URSSAF Limousin. Artists earning below this threshold may apply for voluntary affiliation by demonstrating regular artistic activity. Failing to apply in time results in suspension of social rights, including healthcare reimbursements and pension accrual.

Contributions are assessed on gross artistic income earned in 2025. The artist's share breaks down as: social contributions (basic pension + health/maternity insurance, approximately 7.75% of gross income); the CSG/CRDS broad-based social levy (9.70% applied to 98.25% of income); and the vocational training levy (CFP) at 0.35%. The URSSAF Limousin portal calculates everything automatically once you enter your gross income. Cross-reference your rights statements (relevés de droits) from SACEM, SCAM, publishers, or other payers to ensure accuracy.

The précompte diffuseur (source withholding by the distributor) requires publishers, collective rights management societies, and producers to deduct 1.1% from gross royalties paid to artist-authors and remit the amount directly to URSSAF Limousin. This acts as an advance payment against your annual contribution liability. At declaration time the portal pre-populates the withheld amount; verify it against your own rights statements before submitting, as any discrepancy must be reported to URSSAF.

The annual declaration covering artistic income received in 2025 must be filed by 15 May 2026 through your personal account on urssaf.fr. Paper filing has not been accepted since 2021; electronic submission is mandatory. Once validated, URSSAF issues a contribution assessment notice (avis d'appel de cotisations) showing the balance owed and payment options — either an immediate SEPA direct debit or monthly instalments (mensualisation).

A surcharge of 5% is applied to all contributions due from the first day of delay, plus an additional 0.2% per month of further delay. If no declaration is filed at all, URSSAF may issue an estimated assessment (évaluation d'office) and a formal demand notice (mise en demeure), potentially leading to enforcement proceedings and suspension of both healthcare and pension rights.

No — the two filings are entirely separate. The URSSAF declaration covers social contributions only. You must also file your annual income tax return (déclaration de revenus) with the French tax authority (DGFiP). Depending on your tax regime, you will use form 2042 plus annex 2042-C-PRO for non-commercial profits (BNC — bénéfices non commerciaux), or report under the employment income section if you fall under the salary-assimilation regime. Figures must match across both declarations, as discrepancies can trigger a cross-audit between URSSAF and the DGFiP.