URSSAF’s late payment penalty notification are not always a reason to worry. Sometimes the social security body URSSAF can be very quick about claiming penalties. However, you shouldn’t trust the notification and you should never just pay it without checking its accuracy. Often it is quickly solved.
What you need to know about URSSAF’s penalty notifications?
Two types of penalties can be distinguished :
– penalties for late payment
– penalties for missing declaration
How to check a notifications about late payment penalty by URSSAF ?
The notification can be checked in three steps :
First step: Did URSSAF register the correct amount due ?
This can be checked via the online access on urssaf.fr. In the declaration section, it is possible to acces the registered data.
URSSAF found a difference
The payroll data is transmitted electronically each month via an electronic declaration referred to as DSN. The total amount due is declared as well as the individual employee’s data. Based on the individual data the URSSAF re-calculates the amount due.
Whenever they find a difference they will notify it and ask for a correction of the declaration.
This is common for instance in case of a recently registered company. As an example, the occupational accident risk code and rate is often not immediately communicated to the employer.
Solution: In that case, the payroll provider will do the necessary to correct it once the correct rate is received.
URSSAF did not found a declaration
This is a common problem for recently registered companies, notably when there is little time between the set up and starting date of the employee.
Often it is technically not possible to immediate transmit a DSN as it takes time for the new company ID to be recognized and integrated to the transmission website. As long as this is pending, the monthly data cannot be integrated to the URSSAF account of the company. However as the URSSAF receives a employee declaration prior to the hire, they start to estimate the contributions.
Solution: Once the data transmission is possible, the DSN declarations are send and integrated by URSSAF. The payroll provider will contact them to request a relief of undue penalty fees.
Second step: Has the payment been made ?
If URSSAF registered the correct contributions, it has to be checked whether the payment has been made.
Solution: If not, the payment has to be made as soon as possible and a cancellation of penalty fees should be requested.
Third step: Has the payment been attached to the correct account
If the contributions are correct and the payment has been made, the last step is to check whether URSSAF has allocate the payment to the company’s account.
This can only be a problem if the payment was done manually, either by wire transfer or cheque. If the payment reference was not mentioned correctly, the social security will not be able to attach it to the correct account.
Solution: Send a proof of the payment to them and ask them to cancel the penalty notification.
What if the claim is correct and the employer experiences difficulties to pay the contributions?
It is important to contact URSSAF to let them know. They will usually propose a payment by monthly installments.
How to ask URSSAF for a relief of the late payment penalty ?
All request for penalty relief should be made through the online account on urssaf.fr.
It is easy to follow the progress and they are usually handled quite quickly. My Payroll Pro France will take care of this for our clients, it is included in our Payroll Services in France.