Hello,
I have only been in France for 2 months and became an AE in the first month so that I can issue invoices for my hopefully future freelance work (teaching English).
I recently received a letter from a company called Humanis, telling me to choose between two institutions (ALTEA and ABELIO) for the Retraite Complementaire of my salariés. According to their letter, it is my obligation to join one or the other, even if I have no "personnel salarie", and that I wont have to pay anything if I dont have employees. Thinking the letter was just some advertising, I ignored it, but have now received another reminding it again that this is my obligation.
Has anyone had any experience of this? I am reluctant to sign on the dotted line when I don't know what I'm doing.
Many thanks
Clare St Lawrence
Thanks again to everyone. I understand it pretty clearly now.
So now I'm a fugitive from justice, having tossed their correspondence where I thought it truly belonged. I wonder how long 'til the ARRCO squad comes to raid the offices of my vast, illegal entreprise and drag away its chef (me), after handcuffing my secretary (me), my receptionist (me), and the night cleaning staff (me.
yes, just a formality, but still an obligation as Tracy said ;-)
Yes, it is obligatory but it doesn't cost anything unless you have employees. They then send you a form every year and you reconfirm you have no employees. Bit daft but there you go. 'tis France
up to you, it's just a formality which is better explained here
Here's the conclusion:
En clair, le courrier de demande d'adhésion que vous avez reçu concerne vos futurs salariés, et non votre propre régime de retraite. Il est en effet obligatoire pour toute entreprise, lors de son inscription, d'adhérer à une caisse de retraite complémentaire, d'après l'article 8 de l'annexe A de l'accord ARRCO du 8 décembre 1961 mis à jour (étendu à toutes les entreprises, par arrêté du 27 mars 1962). Lequel spécifie que « Toute nouvelle entreprise, même si elle n'emploie pas immédiatement de salariés, est tenue de souscrire une adhésion. [...] Elle n'implique aucun versement de cotisations jusqu?à l'embauche de salariés. ».
Celle-ci ne concerne de toute façon pas le chef d'entreprise lui-même (qui est non salarié par définition, et cotise donc au RSI ou à la CIPAV), vous n'aurez donc rien à payer. C'est juste une formalité. Si vous ne tenez pas compte de ces courriers, votre entreprise sera de toute manière inscrite d'office auprès de l'organisme ad hoc.
I did, with Réunica, for the 4 years I was an AE, I'm now in the mainstream regime (SNC). It didn't ever have any impact on me ;-)
thanks to David, Shelley and Donna too -- very reassuring to discover that "obligatoire" is not what it seems! I have also got a letter from Malakoff something or other, trying to get me to join some Prevoyance Obligatoire de vos Salaries ... Imagine it's the same thing. Thanks again to all.
"obligatoire" does seem to be a bit of a favourite word - esp. with people trying to get you to do something you don't need to!
I got a letter or three from this group as well when I first joined the AE scheme. Just ignore them.
Hi Clare
Yep, I had the same spurious letters from a couple of companies, including Humanis. I have ignored them and they have ceased to pester me! There are some useful posts on this AE group, including details of what is and isn't obligatory plus the likely "spam" mails you are likely to get when you register as an AE. Good luck!
Shelley
thanks Brian for the speedy reply. That's reassuring. I feel that I shouldnt have to join anything else, but they are clearly putting pressure on!
Altea and Abelio are one and the same company's (Humanis) pension schemes with slightly different bits. Neither my OH nor I have ever heard about 'obligatory' nor have we ever responded to any of their irritating letters.