The Rule in One Sentence
With the declarative CESU, the employee's remuneration is declared once a month, during the month worked or no later than the 5th of the following month. The declared period cannot exceed one calendar month.
This date is the cornerstone of everything else: it determines the day your contributions are deducted, the availability of your employee's payslip, and, if you use Cesu+, the transfer of their salary.
Two Dates to Remember
There are two dates, and they must not be confused:
- The declaration deadline: the 5th of the month following the worked period.
- The contribution deduction date: this is set by the date the declaration is received. A declaration received before the 5th of the following month is deducted at the end of the month after next, nearly two months after the worked period.
Example provided by Urssaf: an employee worked in August and their declaration reaches CESU on September 4th. The deduction notice is available at the end of September, and contributions are deducted on October 31st. If the declaration had arrived on September 20th, the deduction would have taken place on November 30th.
Three practical notes:
- The exact deduction date is shown on the deduction notice, which Urssaf makes available one month in advance. Urssaf deducts on the last working day of the month, a date that cannot be changed.
- When the 5th falls on a weekend, it is safest to declare before, by Friday at the latest, rather than relying on a postponement.
- In case of rejection, the deduction is not rescheduled: Urssaf will notify you by mail (or email for a Cesu+ salary) and you must rectify the situation yourself, preferably by bank transfer.
With immediate advance, this schedule does not apply. Salary and contributions, reduced by the tax credit, are deducted together a few days after the declaration, via Cesu+. There is therefore no deduction of contributions two months later. Urssaf example: for 100 € net salary and 62.56 € in contributions, the employer is only deducted 81.28 €.
Why Respect the 5th Deadline
A declaration received after the 5th is not rejected, but it has three consequences:
- The deduction is postponed to the following month, and it then covers two employment periods at once. The deducted amount is therefore higher, which can be surprising when checking your bank account.
- Cesu+ switches to a “blocked” status, until you rectify the situation. Urssaf does not deduct the salary or transfer it to your employee: you must pay them directly (see below). Without Cesu+, the immediate advance of the tax credit also does not apply.
- The employee is penalized: respecting the deadline is essential for the correct calculation of their social rights, and you cannot provide them with their deduction notice on time to the bodies that request it (health insurance, Department). The annual tax certificate may also be incomplete.
Prolonged failure to declare is more serious: any remuneration paid for domestic employment must be declared, and omission exposes you to penalties.
Declaring, Step by Step
- Log in to your employer space on cesu.urssaf.fr.
- Select the employee and the employment period: this is the month worked, not the month of the declaration. September hours are declared in October by selecting “September”.
- Enter the number of hours and the net hourly rate, and indicate whether paid leave is included in the rate. The site only accepts whole hours: see how Kiwisio adjusts the declared rate for split hours.
- Add any additional elements (overtime, bonuses, transport expenses, night presence hours), then validate.
The online declaration generates the payslip, available in the employee's space the next day.
Paying the Salary When Not Using Cesu+
Declaring with CESU does not pay the employee. The declaration calculates contributions and issues the payslip, but the net salary remains your responsibility, unless you have activated Cesu+ with your employee's agreement. With Cesu+, Urssaf deducts the salary from your account two days after the declaration is recorded, then transfers it to the employee's account three working days after the declaration.
Without Cesu+ (or in case of a late declaration, which blocks the service), here is what you need to know. This also applies to the very first declaration for an employee: Cesu+ cannot be activated at that time, so the first salary must always be paid directly.
The Amount to Transfer
This is the net salary from your declaration, as shown on the summary and the payslip. Make the transfer after declaring, to pay exactly this amount: a discrepancy between the payslip and the transfer is a classic source of disputes.
Payment Methods
The salary can be paid by bank transfer to an account of which the employee is the holder or co-holder, by crossed cheque, or in cash up to 1,500 € net per month (Article L3241-1 of the Labor Code and Decree No. 85-1073 of October 7, 1985). Beyond this limit, payment must be made by crossed cheque or bank transfer. Bank transfer is the preferred method: it leaves a dated record, independent of anyone's word.
The Payment Date
Article 56-2 of the common core of the collective agreement (IDCC 3239) is clear: salary payment must be made every month, on the date and under the conditions set out in the employment contract, by the private employer. A late salary payment is a failure on the part of the employer, even when the declaration was made on time.
The agreement does not itself set a specific day: it is up to you, with your employee, to agree on the date in the contract. A practical choice is to align it with the declaration deadline, before the 5th of the following month. You then only have one monthly appointment to remember, and the employee knows when they will be paid.
The simplest approach is to make the transfer right after declaring on cesu.urssaf.fr. The net amount to pay is now displayed, the payslip is being generated, and there is no risk of forgetting. It is a habit that avoids delays effortlessly.
The same article specifies that, with the employee's written agreement, the employer can entrust salary payment to CESU via the Cesu+ service. Without this agreement, the employee must be paid directly. If you want to stop worrying about it, Cesu+ is the safest solution: the declaration alone triggers the deduction of the salary from your account and its transfer to the employee. Provided you declare on time, since a late declaration blocks Cesu+.
Keeping Proof
Keep the bank statement of the transfer with the corresponding payslip. In case of disagreement over a paid salary, this is the only document that settles the matter.
If You Prefer Not to Declare Yourself
The Cesu mandate allows you to entrust monthly declarations to a third party authorized by Urssaf, while retaining control of the employment contract. See the article on the Cesu mandate.
What Kiwisio Brings in Practice
All the difficulties described above come down to one issue: calendar management—declaring before the 5th, paying on the right date, keeping a record. Kiwisio organizes the payroll month around these deadlines, so the deadline no longer relies on anyone's memory:
- The declaration is prepared automatically as soon as the month's services are completed, and no later than the 25th. Hours come from the schedule, and pay is calculated according to the collective agreement (public holidays, absences, split hours): there is no need to recount everything manually.
- The employee validates their hours before submission, until the 2nd of the following month. Both parties start from the same count, avoiding the need to correct a declaration afterward. If there is no response by this date, the hours are automatically validated to avoid delaying the declaration.
- The employer is reminded before the deadline: a reminder on the 2nd, an alert on the 5th, then follow-ups until the declaration is made. An oversight no longer goes unnoticed until the deduction.
- With the third-party declaration mandate, Kiwisio submits the declaration directly to Urssaf, without re-entering it on cesu.urssaf.fr. Without a mandate, Kiwisio displays the exact hours and hourly rate to copy, adjusted if necessary for split hours.
- Cesu+ is activated from the app: the employer requests the employee's agreement, who responds online. The service is activated with Urssaf as soon as the conditions are met, i.e., after the first declaration. Cesu+ also grants access to the immediate advance of the tax credit.
- Without Cesu+, salary payment is tracked: the employer indicates they have paid, and the employee confirms they have received the amount. This confirmation, stored with the declaration, supplements the bank statement in case of disagreement.
- The amount displayed is the one to declare and pay, avoiding discrepancies between the declaration, the payslip, and the transfer.
The goal is not to take control of your payroll away from you, but to ensure that each month's deadline arrives with everything needed to meet it: validated hours, a correct amount, and a timely reminder.
For public holidays and their effect on pay, see the dedicated article. For the tax credit deducted in real time with each declaration, see the immediate advance.
Official Sources
- Urssaf CESU service: When should I declare my employee?(opens in a new tab)
- Urssaf CESU service: When are contributions deducted?(opens in a new tab)
- Urssaf CESU service: How do I pay my contributions?(opens in a new tab)
- Urssaf CESU service: My CESU deduction was rejected, what should I do?(opens in a new tab)
- Urssaf CESU service: What is Cesu+?(opens in a new tab) and How to manage Cesu+?(opens in a new tab)
- Urssaf CESU service: What is CESU Immediate Advance, and how does it work?(opens in a new tab)
- Urssaf CESU service: What documents are available in my CESU account?(opens in a new tab)
- Urssaf CESU service: How to declare split hours?(opens in a new tab)
- Urssaf: Declaring the remuneration of a domestic employee(opens in a new tab)
- Service-public.gouv.fr: Private employer: what is declarative CESU and how to use it?(opens in a new tab) (sheet F2912)
- Labor Code: Article L3241-1(opens in a new tab) (salary payment methods); Decree No. 85-1073 of October 7, 1985 (1,500 € cash limit).
- National collective agreement for private employers and domestic employment (IDCC 3239), common core: Article 56, declaration and salary payment(opens in a new tab).