Reform, an easy word to pronounce but after that… a mystery. But no matter, the importance does not lie in the declension but in the mere fact of having pronounced it.
We are not reformers because we make reforms but simply because we announce them!
Besides, reforms, as we well know, are something everyone invokes, but it’s for others…
Current example: The government’s handling of the “withholding tax” file illustrates the country’s difficulty in carrying out a reform without hesitation and seeing it through to the end.
As a reminder: this system is applied in all European countries, except Switzerland: since 1925 in Germany and even in Italy from 1974. That says it all!
A little step back. The first act is the finance law of December 29, 2016, which set the entry into force of the reform for January 1, 2018. However, faced with the questions from business leaders and the administration’s difficulty in keeping pace, two reports were commissioned by the newly elected President of the Republic. That was the second act.
Third act, first twist: an ordinance of September 22, 2017, postpones the reform by one year. And the confusion machine is off: the finance law of December 28, 2017, provides for “adjustments” to the system, in the form of “simplifications.”
To prepare the changes, an order published in the Official Journal on May 12, 2018, changed the official models of “simplified” pay slips. It was stated that this document must now specify the net payable before income tax. The editors of the Official Journal are meticulous: they even specify the font size “whose number of points is at least equal to 1.5 times the number of points of the font used for the composition of the headings of the other lines.” Let’s simplify, simplify.
Two laws, an ordinance, an order. This arsenal is quite insufficient for a measure that aims to simplify the lives of businesses and employees. Fifth act: early July 2018, the Minister of Public Accounts announces the postponement of the system by one year for domestic work companies.
Finally, in August, the same minister had a revelation: the system is too complicated for very small businesses. He therefore promises that companies with fewer than 20 employees will be able to delegate the declaration and payment of their employees’ tax to URSSAFs, via a free service.
We await the sixth act: another year’s postponement?
